


Those Times Between

by PinguinoSentado



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 12:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6519793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinguinoSentado/pseuds/PinguinoSentado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Piper Wright is out to fix the Commonwealth one injustice at a time. It's exhausting work, but lucky for her, she has someone willing to share the burden.</p>
<p>Collection of unrelated stories about Nora and Piper touring the Wasteland and saving the world. Because what would you do if you had Piper Wright all to yourself?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mirelurks

Nora had seen a movie like this once. She could not remember the title, but she did remember the highlights, and every one of them involved a people getting eaten by a giant shark.

“You’re sure?” she asked again.

Piper nodded easily. “Yup. Never seen one of these shark things and I don’t think this is the place we’ll be finding one.”

“So that water is safe.”

“Completely.”

Neither woman was convinced. Nora had never realized how judgmental the insistent dripping of water could be. _Drip, drip, coward, coward._ Cue the ominous shark attack music. If Nora stared long enough, she could see one moving under the water. In the blackest reaches, it waited, a hundred feet long, grinning. Waiting.

“Except for Mirelurks,” Piper chirped.

“Right! Mirelurks! Dangerous little guys.”

“Very.”

Nora forced her eyes off the depths. “We should stay here.”

Piper nodded. “We should.”

“This isn’t the only source of clean water around.”

“Can’t be.”

There were a thousand good reasons not to do what Nora was about to do. She already knew she was going to wade into the murky blackness. She also knew that she would probably lose both her legs when whatever was waiting down there jumped out at her. Then Piper would be forced to look out for her, feeding her Power Noodles and caring for her until the resentment drove her to poison her one-time lover and find a younger, more attractive Vault Dweller to share her bed.

“Well, Blue, in ya go!” Piper gave her a very unhelpful nudge. “Those pumps won’t start themselves.”

“Remind me again how you talked me into this,” Nora asked as she tested the water with her boot. She could just imagine the ripples attracting that nasty something that surely called this place home.

“If I recall, it didn’t take much talking,” Piper hummed and swayed suggestively.

Nora sighed. “Never could say no to a pretty girl, could you?” she grumbled to herself.

“I like to think of myself as… making things worth your while.”

As much as she wanted to argue, Piper could make some very persuasive arguments with that tongue of hers. “Fine,” she grumbled, picking up a half-rotted clipboard from the machinery beside her. “But first, this.”

She tossed the clipboard into the water. Piper scoffed as it splashed down. “Satisfied?”

The water exploded, a fountain of murky green and unnamable bits of muck flying everywhere. The clipboard nearly took Nora in the forehead as she and Piper both drew their pistols and opened up on the horror from the deep. A hail of lead sent the creature toppling backward, screaming even before the water had settled. When the last of the droplets fell, a very dead Mirelurk lay sprawled on its back.

Nora spat something out of her mouth and tried in vain to dry the water from her face. “What did I tell you?”

“What?” Piper sputtered. “I told you there were Mirelurks!”

After a long, dignified gag, Nora scrubbed at her mouth with the inside of her coat. “And I said we should go home! There’s got to be a better way to get clean water.”

“Well, Blue, the Institute is poisoning our water,” Piper again peered into the water, giving Nora a chance to roll her eyes and make faces. “And I don’t think they care if we’re a little inconvenienced by it.”

Nora, a seasoned veteran in dealing with Piper Wright, waited patiently for the other shoe to drop. “And?”

“And just look at this place!” Piper threw her hands up, wheeling around in time to catch Nora staring pleadingly at the ceiling. “There’s bound to be a story here!”

“No, there’s bound to be a shit-ton of Mirelurks. Or maybe we’ll get lucky this time and find some Sugar Bombs.”

“Don’t knock the travel fuel,” Piper’s chided. “Come on. The sooner we get out of here, the better. This whole place smells like something shit itself and died.”

Nora waded into the muck first, kicking the floating monster out deeper into the pool. “Lookin’ your way, buddy.”

Piper shuffled in behind, eyes fixed on the black depths at their feet. Nora did her best to find the metal catwalk that normally would have marked the path. She had no idea how far the treatment plant extended beneath them, but it was well beyond the reach of light or fevered imagination. She knew something was down there. She could feel it.

She held up a hand to stop Piper where she was. “Water’s deeper here,” she murmured, suddenly afraid to wake whatever was below.

Piper did not seem to care. “What? Quit mumbling!”

“I said the fucking water’s deeper here!” Nora nearly laughed as she said it. God, did Piper drive her crazy. “Just look at it. That is not normal.”

“I can see it just fine, Blue,” Piper was shaking her head. “Those Wasteland senses of yours aren’t going to waste at all.”

Nora kicked at the water, sending a splash rippling out into the distance. Nothing moved. “Alright. There’s a console over there, in that flooded room. I think it’s the pump control.”

“Look at you, Wasteland engineer.”

Nora pointed to a damaged bit of metal with most of the black letters scratched away. “It says ‘Cycle ‘umping’ on the sign. Care to guess the missing letter?”

Piper grinned. Nora held up a hand before she could make a terrible joke. “No! Next time, I swear I’m bringing Nat.”

“You can’t take us both!” Piper complained as Nora waded toward the unfortunate signage. “Diamond City would fall apart in hours!”

“Diamond City,” Nora shouted as she reached the console. “Would make my birthday a city-wide holiday if I got rid of Piper Wright.”

The pump groaned to life. Within seconds, the fetid water began draining from around Nora’s boots, leaving them a sickly green she was sure would never wash away. “There’d be parades, cotton candy,” Nora shouted over the roar as she stumped back toward Piper. “They’d probably make a statue of me. Right up there at the Noodle Bar. Larger than life, the Hero of Diamond City, the woman they call… Nora.”

Piper cocked her head as the pump stopped. “Cotton candy?”

Horror whitened Nora’s face. “Oh, Piper,” she soothed.

“What? What is it?”

“You’ve never had cotton candy!”

Piper huffed and pouted. “So? It sounds awful. Like someone sprinkled sugar on a sweatshirt and called it food.”

“I can’t believe it. No wonder you grew up so angry.”

Nora dodged a swipe of the woman’s hand. “I grew up fine, thank you. Pretty well, actually, when you think about it.”

For one terrifying moment, Nora thought she had stepped on the emotional landmine. She knew about Piper’s past. She should have known better than to bring it up.

But, between the two of them, Piper was the real survivor. She grinned and winked at Nora. “Lookee there,” she pointed down through the metal catwalk. Nora followed her gaze and tried not to cry. “Someone wants to meet you.”

Looking up at them through the grating was vibrantly green Mirelurk, its eyes fixed hungrily on Nora’s filthy boots. Nora stomped and watched little droplets of water spray down at the monster. “Fuck me! And why did the water stop draining?”

Piper again had the answer. “Looks like another room below, Miss Water Treatment Engineer.”

“You’re kidding!” Nora looked hopelessly around at the still-flooded chamber. “What idiot designed this place?”

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly sound explanation,” Piper was having far too much fun as Nora shoved by her. “Or did you pre-war folks not plan for the whole giant crab monster infestation?”

“Well obviously the multi-tier redundancy system is designed specifically to prevent the crab monster infestation from spreading,” Nora explained before she shot the claws off another scuttling Mirelurk.

She swore she could hear Piper skipping behind her. “How’s that?”

“As a Water Treatment Engineer, I don’t have to explain myself to the likes of you. Now make yourself useful and go push that button.”

Nora had halted them just where a flight of stairs branched off the metal path. Piper looked where Nora was pointing. “And where will you be?”

“Down there,” she pointed down the stairs, into ankle-deep water that looked more brown than blue. The thought of slogging through it made her skin crawl but better her than Piper. “I’m betting there’s another button down there and the sooner we’re out of here, the better.”

“It’s your fault, you know,” Piper brushed passed her, pouting as she did. “You never take me anywhere nice.”

As the brown-green wastewater sloshed into Nora’s boots, she found it hard to argue. She watched as Piper looped her way back around, safe and dry and wonderfully fun to look at. The woman made a face at her as she approached the little room. Nora watched, waiting in the muck for salvation.

“Alright, here goes!” Piper called.

There was another deep groaning from the depths of the facility. Nora listened as the chains of hell snapped taught and demons by the score set to work pumping the water from the room.

She did not even have a chance to breathe before the water exploded over her. Nora tried to swear but found herself spitting grime out of her mouth as she scrambled for cover. Behind the curtain of her own wet hair, she thought she saw something move. It was only a glimpse, but it was all she needed. There was something lurking in the deep.

“Nora?” Piper’s voice carried over the din of pumps. “You still out there, Blue?”

A violent coughing fit kept Nora from answering. Piper was laughing by the time she got any words out. “Yeah!” Nora staggered to the door. “Oh, God, Piper, the water, it’s –“ she fumbled for the word as she gagged. The sound of skittering above her drew her attention. A Mirelurk was crawling furiously across the catwalk above her head, its beady eyes fixed on Piper. “Shit!”

Piper laughed. “That your official statement, Blue?”

“No!” Nora coughed and gagged and watched the monster disappear inside the room. “Mirelurk!”

“Probably because there’s Mirelurk shit in it,” Piper called. “That’s probably all it is anymo-OH FUCK!”

Gunshots and the sound of a squealing crab monster carried through the room. Nora shouldered her rifle in a gesture of helpless resignation. She had tried.

The echoes of gunfire faded away slowly. There had only been half a dozen shots but the way they rang off the walls made Nora swear they were actually inside an enormous church bell. The ringing in her ears began to fade after a few long minutes and she again heard water dripping from a thousand places. “Piper?” she called.

No answer. Nora listened closer. One Mirelurk could not possibly take down Piper. Right? “Piper?”

Something small and yellow zipped out the door and plunked into the water a few feet away. Nora watched the ripples from the flying alarm clock as it vanished from sight. “You missed.”

“You could have warned me!”

“What do you think I was trying to do?”

Piper stomped out of the little room and started winding her way along the catwalk that led to Nora. It was hard not to notice the streaks of deep red along her legs. _It was a Mirelurk, not a Deathclaw. She’s probably had worse paper cuts._

The fact that Nora had fished out a spare Stimpack by the time Piper arrived was just happy chance. She had been reorganizing her pack and it just happened to fall into her hand.

“Here,” Nora tossed the cure-all to her irate companion. “Take this and call me in the morning.”

The list of Piper’s flaws was short but pride was written in bold. She caught the Stimpack without breaking stride and stuffed it into her pocket. “I’m fine,” she growled between clenched teeth.

Nora pretended not to care. Pushing it would get them nowhere. “You’re the boss. Just one more button to push and we can start for home, anyway.”

Once they were out of here, Nora would find a place for them to rest and recover. Piper would never admit to needing a rest, and she probably could walk from here to Diamond City just fine without a break, but it was just out of the question. What if they needed to run? What if a Deathclaw attacked and Piper stumbled because her leg was hurt?

“Are we going or what?”

Nora turned away from the woman, resisting the urge to sit her down and kiss her every bruise. She smirked at the image. Later. Definitely later. “Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on.”

She gave the console a solid thump with her closed fist and listened to the familiar sound of water being sucked out of the room. It was better than the alternative. It had only now occurred to her that she knew nothing about what she was doing. If she hit the wrong button or a Mirelurk had shit in the wrong place, the water might be sucked back into the room and drown the two women.

It was too late that Nora remembered the leviathan she had seen. As the two wandered across the catwalk, intent on leaving the place behind them, a bone-shattering roar sent them both diving for cover. Nora swore she heard the squealing of rusted metal as the sound of the monster’s cry threatened to shake the world apart.

Nora had not been in the Wasteland long, but she knew a losing fight when she saw one. “Piper!” she pushed herself up and grabbed the woman’s collar. “Get up!”

Piper popped to her feet with Nora’s help. “Mirelurk?!”

“You tell me!” Nora pointed at the black and green blob now being revealed by the dropping water.

The idiot bouncing along behind her made an ooh noise. “Mirelurk Queen! Watch out for the –“

Whatever she was going to say next was cut off in a hissing, splattering sound familiar to anyone who has ever had a bad stomach bug. It was the hissing, sizzling sound of liquefying metal that was new. With a groan, the catwalk buckled, sending the women tumbling into the falling water.

Nora hit with a splashed down in a geyser of green and promptly smacked her head against the now-emerging floor. Luckily, there was still enough water that she did not miss taking in a mouthful of the filth. Coughing, spitting, and swearing all at once, Nora shook her hair from her eyes and sprinted for cover.

Piper proved herself half-feline as she sprang off an exposed bit of machinery and landed with a quiet, dignified plop. Her pistol started yapping even before Nora had gotten into position. Her eyes may have been bleary from the water but she could practically see the Queen shrugging the rounds off like so many pebbles.

“This looks bad!” Nora shouted before setting her rifle to her shoulder and throwing her own string of pebbles.

The pistol fire stopped for a moment. “Back up! Nora! Back up!”

Nora spun around and found herself facing a steel wall. “Where?!”

The Queen was slithering toward them. It would be hard to dodge its vomit in these quarters. She dropped to the floor, looking frantically for a way under the exposed vents. There had to be a corner to hide in.

But what about Piper? What would she do?

“Oh, for – Just don’t move!”

Three shots. Three shots rang out in deliberate, slow succession. Then came more groaning steel. Nora looked up find the sparks.

What she saw was the Mirelurk Queen towering over her. Nora raised her rifle. She had always imagined herself going out in some stupid way like this. Of course, she had hoped to go out in Piper’s bed, the two of them –

_Spla-CRUNCH!_

The Queen teetered on its many legs, swaying this way and that as it tried to figure out exactly what had happened. Nora stared at where the monster’s head had been. In its place was a huge piece of catwalk, its edges rusted and covered in gore. With a final, resigned burble, the great beast toppled back, slain by no more than three shots.

Nora could not take her eyes off it. Her mouth hung open but no words came out. At length, as Piper sloshed her way up behind her, Nora managed a few words. “What the fuck?”

“Well, it wasn’t one bullet, but,” Piper looked over the dead Mirelurk Queen appreciatively. “It’s a little bigger than a Deathclaw. Want to call it even?”

Her mouth still refused to close. “Uh huh.”

Piper looked absolutely giddy. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you. Did you say you were impressed with my shooting? Did you say that I killed something you couldn’t?”

“I had it under control,” Nora huffed. She was never going to live this down. She would be lucky to find a way to keep the woman quiet short of keeping her confined to the bed.

Piper leaned closer, ear cocked meaningfully. “Did you? Had some big plan to take down the vicious crab monster all by yourself? Looks to me like your faithful companion just saved your life! What d’ya say to that?”

Nora did not have anything to say. She rolled her eyes and looked away. As much as she loved the idea of keeping Piper all to herself, she –

It happened faster than Nora could blink. She saw the Queen shudder, saw the great piece of metal shift just so. Piper was still standing in front of it, pose struck and unmoving. She did not see the monster stirring. Only Nora did. Only Nora saw the horrible, corrosive bile, thrown in slow motion at the unwitting reporter.

Nora moved on instinct. Her shoulder struck Piper’s arm as she cupped one hand around her ear. Her other arm grabbed Piper’s tiny frame and sent it hurtling toward the floor. She felt them fall together, landing in a heap in the muck.

Too late.

Piper spat and swore and shoved Nora away as she tried to rise. She was yelling something Nora did not understand. She went on and on as Nora leaned against a bit of tubing rising from the floor, her legs soaking in the stagnant water still swirling around the floor.

“Blue?”

Nora could not look away. She felt herself start to shake. “Help me,” she sobbed.

Her arm was melting away. What was left of her jacket hung in strips around the sizzling, reddening flesh that was her arm. It looked unreal. It couldn’t be real. This wasn’t happening. Not to her.

Piper grabbed Nora’s arm and shoved it into the water. Nora screamed, her free hand scrambling at Piper’s back as she tried to free herself. “I know,” Piper soothed, keeping Nora’s arm pinned behind her as she turned the water red. “I know it hurts but it’s going to be okay. I promise. You just have to trust me, okay Blue?”

“Fuck,” Nora gritted her teeth and tried to hold back a sob. Her eyes watered and her hand still clawed at Piper’s back. “It hurts, Pipes. It really fucking hurts. Just fucking cut it off. Please.”

“You’re going to be fine,” the woman promised, still scrubbing and making Nora’s head spin. “I’m not cutting anything off. I’m going to get you back home and we’ll get this scrape cleaned up, okay? It’s nothing. You’re not losing your arm, okay? I promise.”

She didn’t even notice as Piper jabbed her with the Stimpack, only saw it sticking from her shoulder and felt everything start to go fuzzy. Nora watched as Piper let her hand free of the murk. It still hurt like hell but the yellow had gone, leaving only open sores and exposed muscle. She could see it twitching as her hand flexed and twitched in agony.

More water washed over it, this time from Piper’s canteen. The Stimpack was already working, deadening the pain and making everything seem more surreal. She watched the red streams wash over her arm, picking off the grime and making it look like something out of a museum. Or a horror film.

She tried to choke back the worst of the tears as Piper lifted her arm again and dug through her pack. Something else jabbed into her shoulder. Nora blinked and stared and choked back another sob as her senses began to fade.

“Blue?” Piper’s voice sounded muffled and far away. “Blue, I need you to stand up for me. Can you do that?”

Nora tried to nod and roll herself to her feet. She rose almost without effort, staring in wonder at her legs before realizing Piper had lifted her onto her shoulder. “Piper –“

“Just shut up and stay alive, okay?” Piper said as she hoisted her wounded girlfriend. “Just… Just stay alive.”


	2. Under the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper tends to Nora's injuries

Piper ran her hand through Nora’s hair. The Stimpacks had done wonders to ease the pain and before they had even left the building, the woman had already been so doped up that she couldn’t walk without help. Her eyes stared vacantly at the ceiling, glossed over and huge. Even like this, Piper loved to get lost in them.

“How ya feelin’, Blue?” she asked. She really wanted to know but she was aching for Nora to tell her she was going to be okay. Nora was always so unshakable, so in-control even when she was so far out of her depth.

Nora smiled lazily. “I’mmm great.”

That was the other reason Piper had asked. She had never gotten Blue drunk before and seeing her like this made everything seem more… intimate. Sincere. Honest. Piper was all about open honesty, especially if it was adorable and slurred and came in a gorgeous package.

“You sure?” Piper giggled. “You don’t need anything?”

“Nope!” Nora shook her head dramatically. “Jus’ fine, mom.”

“Call me that again, doll, and you won’t have anywhere soft to put your head tonight.”

Nora let out a slow, deep chuckle and nuzzled deeper into Piper’s lap. “Mmmk. Mm sorry.”

“That’s better. You’re lucky you’re cute or I would have left you a long time ago.”

The head in her lap shook again. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“No?”

“Nope,” Nora said happily, a huge, drunken grin splitting her face. “What would you tell Nat?”

“I’d tell her I finally traded you in for a puppy.”

Piper watched those beautiful eyes narrow. “Mmk. ‘s fair.”

With that settled, Piper took a moment to peer out the window of their little hideaway. Getting to the top floor of the crumbling building had been a pain, but it was worth the extra safety. With only one way in or out, it let Piper spend more time caring for Nora and less time walking the perimeter. They still had a roof over their heads, two-and-a-half walls, and most of a floor, so as far as Piper was concerned, they had really lucked out finding the place.

The streets outside were dark. Shooting could be heard a few blocks over but it was nothing close. Probably a raider camp getting bored and popping bottles off a fence. Or prisoners.

Piper shuddered. She tried not to think about how exposed they were out here. Of all the times they had slept under the stars, she had never really worried like this before. She trusted Nora with her life and, if something happened when Piper was on watch, one shake of her shoulder and Blue was ready for action. Together, they were safe. Together, they were unstoppable. The Wasteland was just their playground, their place to help people, hear their stories, and make a few of their own.

But now? Now it was just Piper Wright, journalist and all-around loudmouth against the Wasteland, her savior and superhero now helpless in her lap.

“Hey.”

Nora’s voice had lost its innocent joy and now hung heavy with worry. Piper ran her hand over the woman’s forehead. “Hmm?”

“You’re not gonna let ‘m take it, right?”

Piper’s other hand gingerly touched the bandaged mess that was Nora’s left arm. “No. No one’s taking your arm.”

“You promise?”

“I promise. That’s my favorite arm of yours. I’m not letting anyone chop it off.”

Unless it was infected. Unless Piper had been too slow in helping her, too careless in shoving her arm into a pool of God-knows-what and hoping it was okay. She should have just washed it off with clean water. There was probably enough between her canteen and Nora’s. But no, she had just thrown herself on Nora and done something stupid and now she was going to die and even if she didn’t she would be miserable and it was all her fault.

Piper took a slow breath. Nora was allowed to panic right now, not her.

“It’s gonna be all…” Nora flopped her wounded arm lightly and winced. “Fucked up. Ugly.”

Piper leaned down and kissed Nora’s forehead. “No it won’t. It’ll be you so it’ll be perfect.”

Very slowly, another of those drunken smiles broke over Nora’s face. She flopped her head back against Piper’s chest and stared up at her. “You… are very nice.”

“I know,” Piper laughed, trying not to blush at how adorable Nora was being. “I am very nice. A saint, even, putting up with you.”

“And,” Nora stuck one finger up in the air. “I am very fucked up.”

An undignified, snorting laugh burst out of Piper. “Yes, you are.”

Piper settled down beside her, easing the woman’s head off her lap. She wished she had more to offer in terms of comfort. The best she could do was a pillow made of Nora’s backpack and her own scarf. Nora’s eyes followed her lazily as she bedded down on one arm, her other draped protectively over Nora.

The woman grinned as Piper planted a kiss on her head. “And you are taking advantage of me.”

“What? How am I taking advantage of you?”

Nora furrowed her brow. “Sneaky. Drugging me so I talk about annnnything you want. Thought you were better, Ms Wright.”

“Mmm, if I was going to take advantage of you,” Piper leaned closer and hummed into the woman’s temple. “You would know it.”

“Izzat so?” Nora whispered.

Her lips moved from Nora’s temple, tracing across her cheek and finally settling against her soft, waiting lips. “It’d feel like this,” she murmured.

She kissed her for a long, long time, savoring the slow and careful feeling of Nora’s lips against her own. The world always faded away when they kissed, no matter where they were or what they were doing. It was their own private sanctuary, a peace they took with them.

Piper slowly drew herself away only enough to catch her breath. Her eyes fluttered open and found Nora’s closed in bliss. “Mmkay.”

“Mmkay, what?”

“You can take ‘vantage of me.”

Piper groaned and kissed her again just to shut her up. “You are terrible at dirty talk.”

“You are the one who drugged me,” the woman slurred, indignant but still grinning. “Mm, wait, come back. I can do better.”

It was a labor of love, but Piper gave her another chance, leaning over Nora and laboriously, painstakingly created the same, exact kiss. She pulled away, her own breath short and her mind beginning to venture places best left unvisited.

“Gonna hit me with the good stuff, sexy?” she asked breathily.

Nora cracked open one eye, a sly grin on her lips. Piper waited with baited breath.

Then her other eye opened, slowly, wider than before. Her grin slowly faded, replaced by awe. “You,” the woman said slowly. “Are very pretty.”

Piper snorted again, laughing and rolling to Nora’s side. “You really are terrible. Incurable. A lost cause.”

She rolled to face Nora and found herself just inches away from the same, awestruck woman. “I mean it,” she said slowly, her heavy tongue working carefully as she tried to form the words. “You’re… beautiful.” She ran her good hand along Piper’s forehead, brushing a stray hair behind her ear. “Beautiful.”

_Okay. You got me._

Nora blinked, her face going from loving to confused as Piper was talked into bed by a drunk. “That… That’s not…” her face screwed up tighter. “Better. I can do better.”

Piper’s laugh was soft this time, as gentle as the brush of her lips on Nora’s tired head. “It was perfect.”

Another kiss and Nora was smiling. “You’re very nice,” she mumbled.

“Very,” Piper agreed. There were many, many nice things she wanted to do for Nora when they got home. “Now go to sleep. You need your rest. We’ve still got a long walk tomorrow.”

Nora did not need to be told twice. With a deep, contented sigh, her wounded arm tucked carefully beside her, she settled down against the makeshift pillow and closed her eyes. She was snoring in seconds. Nothing loud, thankfully, but quiet, peaceful sounds only attainable by those very nearly comatose. Piper felt herself smiling as she fought her own urge to sleep. Nothing in the world was more tempting than curling up with the woman she loved.

Thankfully, surviving the night was, if only because it meant spending the next night inside with Nora confined to the bed. And then the next night after that. And the next. And the next.


	3. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper tries to draw a group of Raiders away from Nora but is taken prisoner in the process. When the Raiders decide to question her, Piper has to choose between her own safety and Nora's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one is a bit more angsty than the others. Sorry in advance if it's over the top but I thought I'd try my hand at it. Comments are always welcome, constructive or angry, here or on Tumblr. Thanks in advance!

Raiders.

Piper could hear them snuffling around in the street below, poking through rubble and fighting with each other. Like wild dogs but meaner. At least a wild dog wouldn't play with its food.

Nora still hummed and snored and was adorable. If she was awake, these clowns wouldn’t have stood a chance. Piper would have made a bad joke, Nora would have groaned, and the Raiders would have died in a heap.

But now it was just Piper the reporter, her trusty pen all that stood between the helpless innocence behind her and the certain death that prowled below.

“You sure you saw something?” one of them grumbled.

“Nah, I just wanted to drag your sorry ass out here so I could listen to you bitch.”

“Sure, dumbass, make jokes. Being out in the open like this is how people like you get shot.”

“People like me? Motherfucker, I’ve –“

“Shut it! Both of you!”

Piper winced and froze. She was halfway down the stairs when the third man had shouted, shattering the illusion of peace in the night. Nothing moved upstairs. Nora was out cold. Piper could probably have been throwing grenades and firing flares and she would have just rolled over. Typical.

After a moment, the angry one continued. “Alright. Now, Trigger, you sure you saw something?”

“Yeah, boss. Two girls, one all bandaged up and leanin’ on the other. Went into that building there.”

_Oh, fuck._

Piper carefully drew her pistol as the quiet in the street grew unbearable. “Which one?”

“That one, at the end of the street.”

Her shoulders sagged in relief. Maybe she would get lucky.

“You sure?”

There was a long, discomforting pause. “Uh…”

“Fucking useless. Fine. You get the privilege of checking every fuckin’ one, and if you better pray you find somethin’. Otherwise, I’ll find other ways to spend my evening. Like spending some time with Liza.”

From the way he said it, he had something very specific in mind for the hapless Raider. Footsteps thudded down the street as the one in charge chortled at his own villainy. Piper hugged what was left of the wall and hopped her way down to the ground floor. At least she had a little time before they searched here.

Peering out into the street, she caught sight of the Raiders. There were four by her shelter, the nearest almost within arm’s reach. Another three were walking toward the far end of the block. One in the lead was practically running. That would be Trigger, she guessed.

_Okay, Piper, you’re smarter than these guys. Just draw them off. Throw some rocks or something. Or you could fight it out. You’ve got the drop on these ones. Then the rest…_

Piper slipped out the doorway and crept around the outside of the building. Fucking Nora had to go and get hurt the one fucking time this happened. Okay, maybe things like this happened to Piper a lot, but that didn’t change anything.

She sheltered in the alley for as long as she dared, not brave enough to peek at the men outside. She could hear them prowling around the old buildings, watching for trouble and getting impatient. One of them was bound to get curious. Sooner or later, they would find Nora. Helpless. Hurt. Alone.

They were talking again. Piper couldn’t make out what one of them was saying but it didn’t matter. She had to do something. She couldn’t be useless.

“Hey!”

_Son of a bitch!_

A shadowed figure appeared at the mouth of the alley. Piper jumped to her feet and ran. Well, she supposed improvising a plan counted as making one. Right?

More footsteps and shouting. “There she is! I knew she was around here somewhere!”

“Somebody cut her off!”

There was nothing for it. She had to make them chase her. Maybe she would get lucky and stumble on a Gunner patrol or a band of Feral Ghouls. She was fast enough to get through them. The Raiders probably weren’t.

Shouting ahead. All around her. Piper cursed and took a sharp turn. They had her penned in, judging by the sound, but none of them could see her. Not yet, anyway. If she stumbled into a firefight with them, she would lose, no matter how much she had learned from Nora. She was not invincible.

Piper sprinted down the next street and bolted into an abandoned café. The bell jingled overhead. Swearing, she ran for the far wall, bursting through the door hard enough to make the sound audible down the street. Then she doubled back, diving behind a counter and praying she had been fast enough as the bell dinged again.

Boots pounded across the worn tile floor and toward the door. “She went through there!”

Piper squeezed her eyes shut and huddled tighter against the counter as they passed within plain view of her.

None of them stopped.

As they pattered their way up the stairs, she took a deep breath and got to her feet. She had to go now. She could slip out behind them and –

There was a flash of white. Piper saw stars. She blinked twice, raising a hand to her aching jaw. When had she fallen over?

A looming, leering Raider squatted down into her field of view. Piper felt her heart race. She was panicking. She reached for her pistol in desperation.

His hand got there first, pinning her wrists in an iron grip. She struggled out of sheer terror until he reached to his side and pulled a gleaming, wicked knife out of a long sheath. Piper froze. She couldn’t breathe.

“Well,” he purred, baring his yellowed teeth. “Hello there, beautiful.”

 

“It’s a simple question,” the man holding her down growled. “Where is your friend?”

Piper’s face still hurt from being socked in the jaw by that asshole and his friend was doing it no favors. She tried to keep the terror off her face and focus solely on the burning desire to murder them all with her bare hands. With the lumbering mountain of muscle shoving her face into the table, what expression she wore probably didn’t matter.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Piper managed.

The man pushed harder, making Piper grimace as her cheekbones ground against the unyielding wood. “Wrong answer.”

Her hands were pressed behind her back by the same bastard holding her down. When his grip tightened, Piper lashed out with her legs, catching one of them in the shin. It gave her something to smile about when the man decided to twist her arms harder.

“You’re gonna regret that,” his voice sent shivers crawling up Piper’s spine.

“Go easy on the poor thing. She’s just scared.”

The shivers stopped as her blood turned to ice and her stomach tied itself in knots. The others were bad enough, but the one in charge? The one that had found her in the diner and put a knife to her throat? He was beyond sick. Just the sound of his voice was enough to make Piper want to retch.

He sauntered over slowly, his footfalls measured and soft behind Piper’s back. “Now, it’s okay to be afraid. It’s normal,” the man holding her grabbed Piper’s head and turned it to face the monster. “But I promise, you’ll be so much happier once she’s here with you. All you’re doing is making this harder on yourself. And you don’t want that. None of us do. We all want the same thing, here.”

Unless he was planning on blowing his own brains out in the next ten seconds, Piper very much doubted he wanted the same things she did.

“So,” he leaned down, smiling so pleasantly Piper nearly threw up. “Just tell us where she is. We can play this game all night. I promise, you’ll tell me sooner or later.”

Piper smirked. “You want to know where she is, huh? Planning on bringing her back here?”

He nodded. “I promise, she’ll be much safer with us than out there, alone. My friends told me she was hurt. You don’t want her getting hurt again, do you? If you behave, I promise we’ll be gentle with her. With both of you.”

Her smirk widened. “But then I wouldn’t get you all to myself.”

The look in the man’s eyes went from predatory to almost murderous. “You’ve got guts. I wonder how long that will last.”

“I’ve been through worse than this, asshole,” she spat. Whatever happened to her, it would never come back on Nora. Never. “Do your fucking worst. I promise I’ll try to stay awake.”

A deep chuckle rolled from the man pinning her down. Well, at least someone thought she was funny. The one tormenting her did not. He scowled, his fingers pinching her chin and turning her face toward his. “Just remember, when you’re begging me for mercy, that I did try and make this easy on you.”

He straightened and the man holding Piper down yanked her to her feet. “Take her back,” he hesitated, staring Piper right in the face. “Have some fun with her. I think I’ll wait for her friend to get here. That’ll be exciting, don’t you think? I think I'll make you watch.”

The man holding her laughed again and started dragging her off down the hall. Piper thrashed and kicked but at best she might have broken one of his toes. He nearly broke her arm for the trouble.

Raiders passing them in the halls gave her looks that made her skin crawl. She tried not to panic. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her squirm. Not now. She would get through this. She would find a way out. Then she would tell Nora over and over about the time she got herself out of a horrible mess completely without help.

Another Raider grinned and whistled as she was shoved along. “Oh, you’re going to be all kinds of fun.”

“Shit, she looks like she’s about to piss herself,” this time it was a woman’s voice.

“Like you wouldn’t be?”

“It takes more than you fuckups to scare me.”

One of them opened the door just in time for Piper to be shoved through. She tripped over her own boots and landed flat on an old mattress. It might have been covered in scorpions for how quickly she jumped away. Now she started to panic. There was nothing in her pockets. No gun, no bobby pin, no caps, no knife, nothing nothing nothing.

“Boss says we get to have our fun with her first,” one of them was grinning. “She’s a feisty one. Broke my foot on the way over.”

“Good. I like ‘em with a little fight.”

The woman barked a laugh. “Sounds like she’s more than you can handle.”

“Oh yeah, Liza?”

“If she’s got more fire than a house cat, she’ll eat you alive. Gimme ten minutes alone with her and I’ll have her eating out of your hand.”

That got their attention. Piper just stared. What the fuck was she playing at?

“What do you get out of this?”

“What the fuck do you think?”

There were a few scattered chuckles. The woman shoved passed them, closing the door before any more of them could protest and leaving Piper alone with her.

Piper didn’t move. She felt the panic climbing into her chest and taking over her body. She was shaking all over. There had to be something, some way to escape. This couldn’t happen to her.

The Raider languidly fished a pack of cigarettes from her jacket and set one between her lips. “I figure that bought you about five minutes,” she said, casually putting the carton back where it came from before finding her lighter with the same, easy grace.

“What are you talking about?” Piper asked, struggling to keep her voice level.

The woman didn’t seem to hear her. Instead, she took a long drag and blew a cloud of smoke at the ceiling. Her smile was almost sympathetic as she plucked the cigarette from between her teeth and offered it to Piper. “Smoke?”

She wasn’t about to say no. Piper crossed the room slowly, easing up beside the Raider. Her fingers trembled as she cradled the cigarette, pressing it to her lips before she could drop it. “Thanks.”

“You need it more than me.”

Piper didn’t doubt that. She took another deep breath, hoping the bad habit would do something to calm her nerves. To her great surprise, it actually did.

The woman was studying her lazily. “Got a name?”

“Piper.”

“Well, Piper, I’m Liza, and let me be the first to say how fucked you are and how deeply sorry I am.”

As inspirational speeches went, Piper had heard better. “Yeah, you got that right,” she took another deep breath. “So why come in here? Why tell me?”

“Because,” she held out her fingers and Piper returned her last worldly possession besides the shirt on her back. “You can still make it out of this alive.”

Piper couldn’t stop her eyes from flicking to the mattress. Liza noticed. “Yeah. Can’t get out of that, sweetheart. But no one here wants you dead. These guys play tough but they’re full of shit. Just let ‘em have their fun and you’ll be back on the road tomorrow. No scars. No broken bones. Well, no gun, either, but you look smart enough to work around that. You are smart, aren’t you?”

A lazy cloud of smoke boiled down from Liza’s nose, obscuring her grin for just a moment. Piper nodded.

“Good,” Liza passed the cigarette back. “That’s the spirit.”

Piper took a long breath and tried not to choke. She had to stop shaking. She had to.

“Listen,” Liza’s voice was everything a Raider’s voice shouldn’t be. “I know you’re scared. But it’s gonna be okay. I know it seems like… everything is going to end and you’ll never be the same person again. But you will. I promise.”

Piper stared down at the little embers in her hand. Was that all it was about now? Surviving? Seeing Nora again? Finding a way to move on and make the most of life?

Now it was Piper’s turn to cloud the air in front of her. “What do you care if I live through this?”

Liza shrugged. “I don’t. Not really. What happens to you doesn’t mean shit to me,” she gave Piper a sly grin. “But maybe I like you. You did break Tiny’s foot. I’ve been wanting to do that for years.”

Piper stared down at the quickly-burning cigarette. Her hand started shaking again as she wondered how much time she had left.

The Raider sighed again. “And maybe I feel bad for you. It’s not like they’re all that gentle. I know. I’ve been there.” Piper looked up, surprised. Liza just chuckled. “What, you think they’re in here with someone new every day? Sometimes they get bored.”

As much as Piper wanted to murder everyone here, she actually felt a stab of pity for the woman. She passed the cigarette over. “Then why not leave?”

“And go where?” Liza snorted.

“Diamond City? Goodneighbor? No one would care you were a Raider,” Piper tried to sidle closer without sounding too panicked and desperate. “I can help. I’m from Diamond City, I can get you inside.”

But the Raider was shaking her head. Piper didn’t let her start. “Come on, you can’t want to stay here your whole life, getting worked over by these assholes. And for what, a few caps and some free meals? You’re worth more than that.”

There was a long pause as Liza stared at the ceiling and let the smoke pour from her nostrils. Eventually she tipped her head toward Piper, a little smile on her face. “I knew I liked you for a reason.” She passed the last of the cigarette back. “Sorry, kid. You can’t save me. Just like I can’t save you. Even if I wanted to.”

Piper watched the last little fire burn out in front of her eyes. With shaking hands, she let the stub fall to the floor and slowly ground it into the floor with her boot. “Then…”

Liza nodded. “Sorry. That’s why I came in, you know. If you fight back, you’ll just get yourself hurt.”

She was probably right. Piper could probably get through this whole thing with a few scrapes and bruises if she just… well…

“So, tell me the truth,” Liza leaned in like they were nothing more than girls sharing secrets. “Is this friend of yours really out there? I won’t tell.”

Piper looked up. She nodded leadenly. She could trust Liza in this, at least. And it was not like they were going to stop asking her about it either way. No matter what happened to her, she would never put Nora through this. Not ever.

Liza smiled and shook her head. “Damn. Hope she’s worth it. You might be wishing for less attention before this is over.”

_She is worth it. A thousand times over._

The Raider turned to go. Piper put one hand out, lightly grabbing her arm. “Wait.”

Liza turned, eyes full of pity. Piper took a step closer. “I just wanted to say thanks,” she stammered. “You didn’t have to come in here.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“And,” Piper took another slow step. Her voice was shaking. “I wanted to ask you for one more thing.”

She sighed and took a deep breath as she worked herself up to it. Liza waited. “I, uh, I’m scared,” she blurted. “And I know you’ll be… gentler than they will. I just… five minutes? Please? Just so I won’t be so afraid. It’ll make it easier.”

Liza’s eyes met Piper’s. They were actually very lovely, deep and soulful. There might have been something there in brighter days, before she had become a Raider. She was one of those people Piper could tell had a lot of good stories to tell. She was someone who had seen life for what it was, in all its aspects, and to know that she had somehow landed here just made it all the more tragic.

She smiled fondly. “Alright,” Liza pressed up to Piper, her hands moving lower. “But only because I’m feeling sorry for you.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

Liza froze. Piper leaned down, her hand cradling Liza’s neck as the other gripped the knife.

Now Liza was shaking, making little sounds of fear that Piper had forced down. It didn’t have to be this way. She could have saved her. They could have saved each other. Liza could have lived out her life in safety, settled down in the city, and let Piper pick her brain for things to print. It could have been so different.

Piper sighed, pulling Liza in closer and holding her as she passed.

“I’m sorry, too.”


	4. Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Raiders find Nora

Liza died slowly. It could not have been more than a few seconds, but to Piper, it took all the time in the world. She felt every rattling breath as the woman tried to speak. She felt Liza’s fingers scratch at her side, desperate and timid. She was so weak, now. Everything was slipping away and she couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Piper knelt with her, easing her down as the strength in her legs faded. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

She whimpered at that. Piper shushed her just as gently. She just kept talking to her, lying to her, never saying what she really felt.

_I should have saved you. It’s all my fault._

Her last, shuddering breath left her empty. Piper laid her to rest beside the mattress, propped up against the wall. She deserved better than this. Those once-soulful eyes now grew fixed and dim. There was nothing behind them anymore. Wherever she was now, Piper hoped it was better than here.

But wherever she was, Piper was still here, trapped with a dozen angry Raiders, all of whom wanted something Piper desperately didn’t want to give. Worse, they were still out looking for Nora. The damn woman was probably still sleeping. Fucking useless.

Piper took a calming breath. She had to do this on her own. Nora was counting on her just as surely as the Raiders were counting the seconds until Liza gave up the room. With the barest deference to the deceased, Piper began rifling through the woman’s pockets. Cigarettes and lighter she knew about. Another knife, this one lighter than the one Piper had stolen and turned against her. Spare bullets. Library books Piper didn’t want to know the titles of.

Finally she found it. Strapped to the small of the woman’s back was a 10mm automatic. Piper slid it out of the holster. It was lighter than she expected. The perfect weapon for warding off unwanted advances. Hopefully it had sunk its teeth into a few other Raiders before tonight. Piper wanted to imagine Liza as a fighter. She had that look.

The clip was full. Piper clicked the safety and grimaced. She needed a better plan than this. Sure, this would take down a few of them, but then what? Hope for time to reload? Hit them over the head with it? There were dozens of them out there with bigger guns than this.

“Heeeeyyyyy, Liiiiiiiiizaaaaaa,” the voice echoed mockingly down the hallway. “You got her all warmed up yet?”

Piper rose quietly as the footfalls pounded like drums. _Out. Of. Time. Out. Of. Time._

Before she could panic any more, the handle turned. “Her friend’s here and –“

The Raider yowled as Piper slammed into him, Liza’s knife burying itself in his chest. Piper clamped a hand over his mouth as she saw red. She did not even feel him biting her. They had Nora. They fucking found her. They were going to –

Another shuddering breath. Piper felt nothing for this one. Not like Liza.

Without waiting, her 10mm loaded and ready, Piper crept out into the hall. She had to find Nora now. Before they hurt her. No one hurt Nora. Piper could take it. Piper was expendable. Nora was everything.

Piper picked a direction and started walking. The Raider had come this way. Maybe he was coming from where Nora was being held. Her breath came in panicked gasps. She wanted to break into a sprint, tear through the halls screaming her name and bowling Raiders over like ninepins.

She heard the screaming at the end of the hall. Her heart stopped.

It was almost impossible to make out what Nora was saying but Piper would have put good money it involved the word ‘fuck.’ Probably more than once. She tried to smile at that. Nora could handle this. If Piper should have been feeling sorry for anyone, it should be the Raiders. Even with one arm, it was probably like trying to hold a Deathclaw down.

If only the thought was more convincing.

Her running creep came up short as she heard voices from the next room. She probably should have paid more attention on the way in instead of trying to trip the asshole dragging her around. It sounded like there were a lot of them. There were clinking glasses and shouts about what they were going to do to their two prisoners. Piper white-knuckled her pistol and tried not to scream.

Nora did scream. Loud and long and enough to make Piper lose her mind. She gritted her teeth. She had to follow it. Down the hall. She could still save Nora.

But first, she needed to get through the room full of Raiders. Piper glanced in the hall behind her. No one. She could try to find her way around, but that would leave Nora alone with these monsters. No. She had to do something. Now.

The room proved to be a lounge. A long, dilapidated bar dominated one wall while the rest of the room lay thick with broken tables, shattered bottles, and lounging Raiders. Most had their guns close but not in hand. There was nothing to worry about. No one was coming for them. Only those on watch would be on edge. They would have to wait to spend time with the two lovely women they had plucked off the street.

Piper’s 10mm didn’t bark, it purred. Some part of her thought it sounded like the gun Liza would choose. The first Raider toppled from his stool as though he were merely drunk. The second had enough time to look surprised before the shots toppled him. And, as Piper bolted for cover behind the long bar, she allowed the weapon another, short burst to send the Raider bartender pitching backward, the glass he was polishing smashing against the wall.

Shouts and howls of rage tore open the hall as Piper fished for another clip. She heard tables being flipped and chairs scraping against the floor. The first bullets thudded into the solid wood of the bar a moment later. More shattered the bottles above her head and sent countless priceless antiques straight into the floorboards.

The clip slid home and clicked pleasantly. Never in her life had Piper felt so sanguine, so ready to walk through hell with nothing but her fists.

Scuttling to the far end of the bar, Piper poked her head up far enough to get a good view of the room. She counted half a dozen Raiders. One was bolting for the door. She took him down first, her aim almost supernaturally steady.

More gunfire peppered the bar. Again Piper went to ground, scuttling back to another spot as her hosts sprayed round after round into the ancient wood. Up she popped, her aim just as true as she knocked first one, then two Raiders off their feet.

The firefight blazed back and forth. Piper ran from one side to the other, popping up just long enough to spray the room with fire before dropping back to safety. Just as she thought the fight was ending, more Raiders poured in from the door. She saw them coming and raised her pistol.

Then she saw him. The one that had taken her. The one that had promised to save himself for Nora.

He saw Piper, too. The 10mm sprayed the doorway, wounding two men and killing a third, but the bastard was too quick for her. Ducking behind a comrade now bleeding from the leg, he hoisted him up as a human shield. Even Piper had to feel sorry for him, Raider or not.

“Come on, girly,” he called mockingly. “We weren’t gonna hurt you. We just wanted a little fun. Is that really worth all this fuss?”

“You tell me!” Piper spat lamely. She had a plan going into this.

Fuck. What if they went after Nora? What if they decided to hurt her to get to Piper? Or just to kill her outright? Fuck. Fuck, she had to end this.

Come on. It’s you and him. Just him. You can do this.

“Well, you’ve killed an awful lot of my boys, now,” the man’s voice was moving closer. “I’m not feeling to merciful anymore. But how about we make a deal?”

Piper scrambled toward the edge of the bar. She could end this now. Just pop up where he wasn’t expecting her, drop the poor guy he was carrying, and finish him off with the rest. Easy. She started to rise.

The shot grazed her head. Piper yelped and went flat, clutching at the spot where the bullet had surely torn away her hair.

Laughter. “Oh, almost had you that time. I wouldn’t try that again if I were you.”

Glass crunched. Piper swore and looked frantically around for something to use as a weapon. All she saw was glass. Just glass and Liza’s pistol against all these Raiders. She nearly tripped over a full bottle of Vodka just spinning around on the floor. What was she thinking? She wasn’t Nora. This wasn’t what she did.

Closer and closer the footsteps came. “How about we make a deal? You come out of there, all nice and slow, and we don’t kill you? You give us what we want for… well, a while. Let’s say a few months. But you get to live. I’ll even let your friend walk away. She seems pretty banged up. Wouldn’t want to go too rough on her, anyway, now would we?”

Piper’s blood went cold. She closed her eyes tight. If she knew Nora would be safe…

“You’ll let her go?” she asked carefully.

The floorboards creaked. “I promise. We won’t touch a hair on her pretty little head.”

Piper shuffled around in the glass. The bartender’s rag lay in plain view, white and clean like a surrender appeal. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

More laughter. “That’s a chance I’m afraid you’ll have to take. Come on, now. You know you can’t get out of this. Just make it easy on yourself. I promise we’ll be gentle.”

There was a long pause. His chuckle turned sinister. “Well, mostly.”

Piper hung her head and sighed. This was the only way. She had to save Nora and this was the only way she could think to do it. She wished it had been the other way. Nora would have figured a better way out of this. Maybe it was the groan. She was always doing that.

Well, it was worth a try.

Piper groaned. “Sorry to disappoint, but I like it a little rough.”

Liza’s lighter clicked. The rag caught. The monster swore. Piper stuck Liza’s pistol on the counter and fired blind. She heard the shots hit home. A Raider screamed. The bastard shouted as his human shield took the bullets for him.

His own shot hit Piper in her exposed hand. She screamed, dropping Liza’s pistol on the counter.

Piper sprang up. The monster was standing barely ten feet from the bar. She couldn’t miss. She watched the shock spread over his face, watched as it turned to horror, then desperation as he leveled his gun for another shot.

The Molotov got there first.

A proud citizen of Diamond City, Piper knew how to throw, and the burning bottle did not miss its mark. The sound of shattering glass and bursting fire should not have been so satisfying. In fact, only part of her was happy to watch the man burn. It was not even happy, really. It was no different than cleaning Nora’s wound when all she had was dirty water. It was no different than finding shelter in a building that had two walls and half a roof. It would be no different than when she changed Nora’s bandages tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.

It was just what she did to keep her family safe.

Her left hand was a mess. Piper picked Liza’s gun off the counter as the flaming figure tried to run for the door. She hefted it, trying to guess how many rounds were left in the clip. She hadn’t counted how many got off before she got shot.

Well, there would have to be enough. She watched the man run smack into the far wall and crumple. She had probably just doomed the place to die by fire. Not that she cared much. Even the Raiders probably hated this place. They had a way of hating everything.

She wondered idly if Liza hated like they did.

Piper followed the hallway out of the room and toward where she had heard Nora’s screaming. The building was quiet. The wounded man in the main room had started crawling out the door in panic when he saw his master was gone. Wherever he went after that, Piper did not care.

Raider footsteps pattered in the unseen corners of the building. Door slammed and distant shouting told her they were leaving. They were running away from her. From them. Two women with two good arms between them.

If Nora was still okay. She had to be okay.

It was sound of desperate sobbing that drew her, not the constant thudding of Nora’s shoulder against the door. She must have been killing herself trying to get through. Piper broke into as much of a run as she could manage as she heard Nora’s voice.

“You fucking cowards! Leave her alone! I swear to God, if any of you so much as touch her, I’ll… I’ll…”

Another thump against the door gave way to another cry of pain. Piper pressed herself against the door. “Nora!”

“Piper?!”

Piper felt herself go limp. She was still alive. She had done it. “I’m here. I'm here. Just let me get this door open.”

The key, of course, had gone missing. Piper looked around without hope of actually finding it. She heard Nora slump against the door. “Oh thank God. Thank God you’re all right.”

“Not yet. I don’t suppose you have a key?”

A weak laugh came from the far side. “Of course not. I’m… I’m useless. I’m so sorry Piper. I never should have let them take you.”

“You're not useless. I was the one who drugged you and,” Piper hefted her pistol again. “Fuck it. I’m just going to shoot the lock. Move back.”

Nora shuffled for a moment. “All right. I’m clear.”

Liza’s pistol breathed its last, its rounds cutting through the flimsy lock and freeing Nora the same way it had freed Piper. Piper let it hang limp in her hand as Nora bolted around the corner and took Piper in her arms. It had saved them. Both of them.

“You’re alive,” Nora whispered. “Did they hurt you? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

Piper was shaking her head but the words refused to come out. She wanted to tell Nora to be careful with her arm. The Raiders had not been gentle and the freshly-healed skin had broken open in a dozen places. It looked so painful. Piper just wanted to kiss it and make it better.

She wanted to tell Nora they hadn’t hurt her. She wanted to tell her about Liza and how they could have saved each other.

More than anything, she wanted to tell Nora that it wasn’t her fault. She wouldn’t always be there to save Piper and she didn’t have to be. The Publick could take care of itself, she wanted to boast.

Instead, she just tried to hold back the tears. “I just want to go home.”


	5. Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper and Nora recover in Diamond City

Publick Occurrences was quiet. The printing press lay still, just as they had left it before venturing out in to the Wasteland. It would have stayed this way if things had gone a little differently.

Piper looked up at the ceiling but didn’t see it. She was looking at the rusted catwalk, the Mirelurk Queen, and the sparks from the bullets that popped it loose. Her moment of glory. She had saved Nora. That was when, instead of gloating, she should have swept the woman up in her arms and carried her off into the sunset.

The lighter flicked open, then closed. Open. Closed. This was all her fault. She had gotten Nora hurt.

Open. Closed. She had gotten Liza killed.

No. It was worse. She had killed Liza with her bare hands. After the woman had saved her life, tried to help her the only way she knew how, and Piper killed her. Liza had done more than saved her life, she had saved her from being tormented by a dozen men. Even if Piper had left alive, she would have left different. Broken.

And Nora. If they had done the same thing to Nora, she…

Open. Closed.

Liza saved her and Piper had stabbed her in the back. She had watched her die, felt her die. She didn’t deserve to be here.

Open.

Piper stared at the lighter that wouldn’t close. There was another hand wrapped around hers. Piper’s fingers refused to move. They were not being held back or restrained, but they just wouldn’t move. Not while they were being touched.

Not while Nora was holding them. “Piper?”

Her voice was so careful, like anything louder would scare Piper away. Or shatter her completely. Piper looked up and tried to say something. Nothing came out. She couldn’t even smile.

“Hey,” Nora settled down onto the couch beside Piper, her hands still on the lighter. “It’s okay if you want to talk.”

Piper was trying but the words just didn’t want to come out. She didn’t even know what she would say. Instead she just went back to looking at the lighter.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. She wasn’t sure who she was talking to. Nora, surely. And Liza.

Nora moved one hand to Piper’s shoulder, keeping her other on the lighter. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

She wanted to believe that. “I fucked up, Blue. I left you out there alone and… And then… Liza…”

Piper brushed angrily at the tears as Nora tried to soothe her. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You tried to save me. You did save me. Twice. Piper, you did everything right.”

“I should have saved her,” Piper muttered, squeezing the lighter angrily. This was ridiculous. She shouldn’t be crying.

“Who?”

“The Raider,” she said, hefting the little piece of metal like it was supposed to explain everything. “Liza. She tried to help me and I killed her. I didn’t know what else to do. I had to find you. I tried to save her, I swear. I came so fucking close.”

Nora did not pull her, did not pry for more. She never did. It didn’t matter who Piper was trying to save, just that Piper was trying to save them. The idiot would probably trust a Deathclaw if Piper told her to.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” she asked softly. Piper knew from her voice that it wasn’t because she wanted the story. She just wanted her to be okay.

Piper nodded slowly. “I tried to help. I heard Raiders in the street and I thought maybe I could draw them away. One of them saw me. He hit me and put a knife to my throat. They kept asking me where you were. I never told them, I swear.”

“I know,” Nora soothed. Her grip had gotten stronger, more protective.

“They took me back to that building. They were going to... they wanted to rape me.”

Nora growled and bared her teeth but Piper cut her off. “I didn’t care about that. They would have done the same thing to you,” Piper shuffled and flicked the lighter closed again. “And better me than you.”

The silence that followed was deafening. It was how Piper felt, honestly. She had been through so much. Nora hadn’t. As much as she liked to play the hero, she hadn’t grown up here. She hadn’t been forced to go through all the things Piper had been made to endure. Where Nora had grown up, something like this would have been unthinkable. Unbearable.

But for Piper, this was just the way it was. She could handle it. Nora was too sweet, too innocent to have to go through that.

“They took me to a room in the back,” Piper mumbled. “But before they could do anything, Liza stopped them. She told them she’d warm me up for them and closed the door.” Open. Closed. “She saved my life.”

Nora made a noise that sounded like sympathy. A noise Piper didn’t deserve.

“She started smoking,” Piper laughed. “Like she was just out for a fucking walk. This was all just a normal day for her. She started talking to me. She told me I could still walk away from this if I just played along and let them do what they wanted to me.”

Open. “I tried to get her to come with me. She told me they had done the same thing to her and I thought she’d want to come with me. With us. She didn’t deserve to be there.”

Closed. “I killed her, Nora.”

Piper stared at the lighter without really seeing it. She was looking at Liza, slumped in the corner. Maybe Piper should have just laid back and closed her eyes. No one would be dead. Everyone would have gone on living.

“I should have said something,” Piper mumbled. “I just couldn’t think of anything. I should have saved her.”

Suddenly she was back in Publick Occurrences, her eyes fixed on Nora’s in panic. “And you. I left you. I let them take you.”

Nora shook her gently. “No. No one let anyone get taken. I woke up when I heard the shouting. When I saw you were gone, I went looking for you. That’s how they found me,” she moved her head in front of Piper’s. “And you saved me. You were smart enough to find a way out. You escaped, not me. I’m only here because of you.”

Piper wanted to believe that. She did believe it when Nora said it. She shook her head. “It should have been the three of us.”

“Maybe,” Nora admitted softly. “But that was her choice to make, not yours. You did everything you could. I know you did.”

The lighter flicked open. Piper clicked it and watched the little flame dance. She could see why Liza liked it. It lit every time, no matter the wind or rain or Piper’s shaking fingers. A little light against the darkness whenever she needed it. “She did save me,” Piper said quietly. “I never would have gotten away without her. “

Liza’s 10mm was now strapped to her hip in place of her old sidearm. The automatic was newer and had been lovingly maintained, especially for a Raider weapon. Maybe that was why Liza had worn it hidden away under her clothes. It would have stood out, made her a target.

“Maybe that was the best she could do,” Nora murmured. “You can’t save people from themselves, Piper. And not everyone wants to be saved.”

Piper closed her hands around the lighter and put it back in her coat pocket. The pistol had felt so natural in her hands. It handled beautifully, more intuitively than even Piper’s own weapon. She hadn’t thought much about it since that night, but maybe this was how it was supposed to end.

And if it came down to it, Piper would do it all again. She would do anything to keep Nora safe, and she would do it twice if it meant seeing her sister again.

She still wished she could have saved her. Whatever Liza had done, she had not been evil. No evil woman would have done what she did. Stepping between a stranger and a gang of Raiders; that was the stuff of heroes.

Piper looked up at Nora and smiled. “I know,” she said, rising up to kiss Nora on the forehead. “Thanks. I think I’m all right, now.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Somehow, she was. “Of course,” she stood and adjusted her coat. “You’re safe. And now Diamond City has a new place to get its water when we prove the Institute is poisoning ours.”

Nora raised an eyebrow. “When we prove it?”

“That’s right,” Piper snatched her cap off the table. “We can’t just tell people to trek halfway across the city to get their water so, Miss Water Treatment Engineer, unless you’re planning on laying all that pipe to get it from there to here, we have to get people motivated.”

There was that look of exhaustion Piper loved to see. “Can’t we at least see how Nat is doing first?”

“Of course,” Piper flicked her hand dismissively. “Which is why we’ll be starting this afternoon.”

Nora slumped into the couch and groaned.

Piper was there a second later. “Come on, Blue, up you get. The truth is out there. Well, it is for me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” Piper said as she hauled Nora off the couch by her good hand. “That while I go run down some leads, you will be here, sleeping off your scrapes and bruises.”

Nora’s eyes turned to dinner plates. Throughout her career as a journalist, Piper had met a lot of interesting people, but she had never thought someone could be so fantastically motivated by laziness. The damn woman would walk through fire if it meant a soft bed on the other side.

Piper started dragging her up the stairs. “Don’t you say I never did anything for you. Now come on. I’ll go get Nurse Natalie and she’ll make sure you get the rest you need.”

“I prefer Nurse Piper,” Nora quipped as they climbed. “I heard she takes a very hands-on approach to her patients.”

“Only the cute ones.”

“And she wears this skimpy little –“

“Don’t push you luck,” Piper eased Nora into the bed. “I’ll be back to check on you this afternoon.”

Nora groaned and started rolling herself up in the blankets. “Fine, fine.”

“But,” Piper said as she started down the stairs. “Maybe if I happen to be in the neighborhood, I might see about this nurse outfit. Sounds like it could really improve patient satisfaction.”

“I love it when you talk dirty to me,” the pile of blankets hummed.

Piper shook her head, marching toward the door and the waiting world beyond. There were corrupt officials to topple, a thriving black market to reveal, bribery and extortion to drag into the light, and a thousand more injustices to battle. She would not let Liza’s death be for nothing.

But in this moment, even as the Publick refused to rest, Piper Wright needed to see her little sister, and the world would just have to wait.


	6. Eulogy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper visits Nate's grave

Sanctuary Hills. Piper had always liked the name. It seemed to fit the little hamlet perfectly. The old family houses, the run-down cars still sitting in the road, the tranquil, off-color moat surrounding the hilltop, it all came together to make a peaceful, thriving city.

Nora had seen to that more than anyone else. Even if she couldn’t stand being near her old home, she had helped the settlers here more than anyone else ever could. She had given them food, built them shelters, even given them working electricity. Piper still remembered scrounging copper wire out of the walls of old buildings. Good times, those.

But now, the air was too still, the hill not tranquil but deathly. It was so quiet. The only sound, besides Piper’s pounding heart, were her boots scuffing up the weeds. As she rounded the side of Nora’s old home, she felt like she was walking into a Deathclaw nest.

And there was the reason why. Tucked into the back of the yard, next to the well-kept hedge and tattered picket fence, was the grave. It was a simple thing, just a small bit of polished stone, but it was more than enough to scare the living shit out of Piper.

“Okay, Piper, you can do this,” she whispered, wringing her hands as she walked across the yard. “Come on. You talk for a living. Well, interview, which, I guess, would be a little weird right now. If somebody starts talking back, though, that’ll be a story. Front page.”

She shoved her hands in her pockets and tried to shut herself up as she shuffled up to the grave. “All right. Serious time. Come on, now.”

Piper looked down at the smooth black stone, at the lovingly cultivated flowers. Those pink and yellow bursts were more than enough to keep the settlers out of the yard. They were beautiful, haunting things too vibrant and pure for this world.

Just like Nora.

“That might have made a good ice breaker,” she grumbled. “Okay. Focus. You’ve interviewed worse. Shit, sorry, I don’t mean worse, I just mean scarier. But not scary, like, I’m afraid of you, except I am, but not like that, I mean, I am afraid but – okay, start over.”

The little black stone stared up at her, accusing, all-seeing, perfectly aware she was not good enough for Nora. She felt her throat go dry. _Come on, say something. Say something before you lose your nerve and run out of here, tail between your legs. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It can be anything._

“Hey.”

_Piper Wright, ace journalist and smooth-talking wonder, everybody. Charmer of women and –_

“I, uh, I just came to talk to you. I know we haven’t ever met before, but you’ve probably heard about me,” Piper started to trail off. “Probably heard about how I’m sleeping with your wife. Yeah, great start Piper.”

Piper looked around. There was no one to see her. There didn’t seem to be any sign of lightning bolts come to strike her down, either, so that was something. She half-expected Nora’s husband to rise from the grave and strangle her where she stood. Now that would be a way to die.

“Listen, I just wanted to talk to you,” she said, trying once again to say something intelligent. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of me, but I’ve heard a lot about you. All good things – great things, actually. Nora’s always talking about you. Well, sometimes, I mean sometimes I have to – okay, not important, Piper.”

She cleared her throat and took a breath. “When she does talk about you, it’s about how much she loves you. She misses you. A lot. And the way she gets when she thinks about you,” Piper looked around helplessly and tried to laugh. “She was crazy about you. She loved you so much. She still does.”

There was still nothing rising from the ground to kill her, so Piper took that as approval from the world beyond. “Nora… She’s amazing. I don’t have to tell you that. She’ll drive you crazy and sometimes she listens about as much as a drunk Brahmin, but,” she paused, wincing. “Sorry. Probably shouldn’t insult your wife. Shit. This was a bad idea.”

Piper bristled under the stare of the angry spirit. She was doing her best, wasn’t that enough? She loved Nora. That was all that should matter. She loved her and they were together and…

“Sorry,” she sighed heavily. “I’m really not very good at this.”

The flowers bent and swayed in the afternoon breeze as it rustled through the hedgerows. It was really peaceful back here. Piper looked back at the old, broken-down home behind her, and at the window closest to the grave. That would have been Shaun’s room, she realized. She wondered if Nora had done that on purpose.

“I love her, you know. She’s the whole world to me.”

“I wish you were still here,” Piper heard herself saying. “I’d be a total jealous asshole and you’d probably have to keep me away from Nora with a broom, but I wish you were here. She misses you. She loves you.”

She turned back to the grave. “I think she loves me, too. Not the same way, but I think she really does. I know I love her. I’d do anything for her. That’s why I’m here, talking to a rock,” Piper tried to smile. “Love makes us do some weird things, right?”

“I’ve been doing my best to take care of her. I’m not there as much as I should be, but I am trying to change that,” Piper paused, a smiling bundle of nerves. “Which I guess is why I’m really out here.”

The ring rested easily in the palm of Piper’s hand, the tiny blue stone cold against her skin. “I’m going to ask her to marry me. I hope she’ll say yes. I think she will.”

“I really just wanted to tell you, first,” Piper continued, her voice soft and reverent. “You made Nora who she is today. You got to share so much with her and I wish you could see her now. She’s so brave and selfless. She says she’s still trying to make you proud.”

Piper looked around, suddenly nervous. “Don’t tell her I said that. I got her really drunk and I think she would actually kill me just for saying it out loud.”

Smiling at nothing in particular, for the first time since coming here, Piper did not feel like an outsider. No doubt she was imagining things. She so wanted Nate to appear in front of her, spectral and stately, giving her a single, solemn nod of approval before vanishing into thin air. A single rose would mysteriously appear beside the grave. Something she hadn’t noticed before but could only be seen as a sign of good faith from beyond the grave.

Nothing happened, of course, but if Piper was anything, it was stubborn.

“Well,” she said, the ring growing slippery as her palm began to sweat. “Today’s the big day. I should get going.”

She turned to leave. It felt… incomplete. She wanted to go see Nora, to start the rest of her life with her, but something felt off. There had to be something else she could say to appease Nate.

Piper turned back, open and honest. “I’ll take good care of her. I promise.”

With an easy smile that hid her fraying nerves, she started for the garden gate. This was it. She was going to ask Nora to marry her.

Oh, good God, she was actually going to ask. She felt her legs buckle. This was going to go horribly. After what she had said to Nate, how could it go well? And Nate hadn’t even talked back! Nora would be looking at her and doing that thing with her lip and Piper would turn into a bubbling mess and it would be awful. What if she dropped the ring? Of course she would drop the ring. Or lose it. Get down on one knee and fumble around in her pocket like an ass.

Piper practically ran out the gate and into the street. She should just wait. Yeah, wait until she calmed down. She’d talked to Nate today! That was good. Very good. Good enough for one day.

“Pipes?”

Nora’s voice brought Piper spinning around so fast she almost tripped. “Blue! I was just –“

_Not looking for you. Not talking to your dead husband. Not thinking about spending the rest of my life with you._

_Definitely not thinking about waking up next to you. Or kissing you good morning. I’m not imagining what you would look like all in white or wondering which of us would carry the other across the threshold._

“Piper? You okay?” Nora put one hand on Piper’s arm, careful as a mouse touching a housecat. “You look a little red. What were you up to back there?”

She blushed deeper and smiled wider.

“Do you think we could get out of here?” she murmured. “I really wanted to take you somewhere.”

Nora looked around furtively. “Okay, sure. Is this something I should be worried about?”

“No,” Piper took Nora’s hand in hers and started pulling her toward Diamond City. Toward their home. “Just… trust me.”


	7. A New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper takes Nora somewhere quiet to propose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't planned on tying this scene in with the Papergirl story arc but I couldn't help myself so now this scene has a bunch of references to A Light in the Wasteland. For those of you that have read, hopefully this is a nice little hat tip to Piper and Nora's life after that story. For those of you that have not, I apologize for the shameless self-promotion and I hope it convinces you to take a look at the older work.
> 
> Either way, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the fluff!

Diamond City had been Piper’s home for years. She felt like she knew the people, understood the way things worked. She had raised her little sister here, or at least tried to. She had made her own mark on the city with the Publick. It was her little version of paying the people here back for their kindness, for letting a stranger into their lives, and it was her way of keeping them all safe. Even if they didn’t always appreciate it.

But with all that, she had never made a life here. She had her sister, her job, and her house, but it was never really _home_. Not like it was with now that she had Nora.

Her legs were shaking as she led Nora down the stairs and into the city. This was it. She was going to ask Nora to marry her. And Nora was going to say yes. Of course she would say yes. She had to say yes. It was not like they weren’t already a family. Nora already loved Nat more than she loved Piper and Nat was probably the same way so she should probably be doing the proposing. Except that would be weird and uncomfortable and it was time to focus and not think about… whatever that was.

“Ah, finally,” Nora sighed as they came within sight of the marketplace. “Time for lunch.”

Piper actually tripped. “What?!”

Only after seeing Nora’s face did Piper realize she may have overreacted. “Uh, unless you’re not hungry.”

_Real smooth, Pipes._ “No. I could eat. Let’s eat. Eating sounds good.”

Without waiting to hear Nora’s slow, careful speech about how strangely Piper was acting, she took off toward the noodle bar. _Okay, regroup, regroup. Just eat something. That’ll help. Right? Nobody proposed on an empty stomach. Probably. That sounds silly._

Piper slid onto one of the stools, ordered two bowls of what passed for food, and had managed a few calming breaths before Nora sauntered over to join her. “So,” Nora said as she settled down. “Something on your mind?”

_What? No, just trying to muddle through the most important moment of my life. Well, not the most important, I mean –_

Piper smiled and shook her head in an effort to stop the constant chattering inside her head. She might have laughed at any other time. Realizing even her internal monologue turned into a rambling, flustered mess whenever Nora was around was actually really funny. Or it would be tomorrow. Just not right now.

“Just thinking,” Piper said casually. Actually she was over-thinking but –

“Really?” Nora said, skeptical of Piper’s offhanded answer. Or maybe just of the noodles Piper had ordered for her. It was hard to say. “You sure?”

Trying furiously to keep herself from bursting into song or blubbering incoherently at Nora’s perfect boots, she started poking at her food. “Sorry, I guess I just got lost. I was thinking about when we first met.”

Nora chuckled. “Okay. Fair enough.”

“Fair enough?” Piper echoed.

“Well, you didn’t try to kick my ass, so yeah, I’m happy with how that turned out.”

She had to laugh at that. They had not started out the best of friends. “Well, that was your own damn fault. Who need newspaper anymore? Wasteland dangerous, no place for words. Hur hur hur.”

“Keep laughing, papergirl, you let that cavewoman talk you right into bed.”

“What?! Who talked – I had to –“

“That just makes it worse. I had you wrapped around my finger. Didn’t even have to get off the couch.”

_Oh, keep talking, funny girl, and maybe I’ll have a new ring tomorrow, not you._

Piper’s hand went to her pocket. She should have gotten something more nondescript, like a clear stone. Pink or red might go better with her. She wasn’t really sure. There hadn’t been a lot of time to try them on, what with Super Mutants queuing up behind her at the jewelry store. Springtime in the Wasteland. Love was in the air. Grotesque, horribly-irradiated love.

“So,” Piper leaned over the bar, smiling as she remembered the night she had crept down the stairs and taken advantage of the woman on her couch. “You weren’t thinking about me that night.”

“Nope.”

“You weren’t lying awake, wondering whether or not you could come up and join sweet, innocent Piper for the night?”

“Not even a little.”

“Because I remember things a little differently,” Piper grinned. “I remember that night in the alley, with you so worried about little old me.”

Nora fidgeted. “Well, yeah, of course I was.”

“So you weren’t thinking about me, about how close I was,” Piper leaned up against Nora, putting one hand on her hip and bringing her lips so very close to Nora’s neck. “You weren’t thinking about how nice it would be to kiss me?”

“Uh, I mean, you,” Nora muttered as Piper let her breath dance along her neck. “I was worried about you.”

Piper smiled. “I know,” she let Nora kiss her for that. She was so sweet when she wanted to be. “You were cute back then.”

“I’m not cute now?” Nora asked indignantly.

“You do all right,” Piper said dismissively.

Nora slumped into her noodles and pouted. Piper watched her pick at her food for a bit before letting her mind wander again to those early days. They had come a long way. She wondered if things should have been different. Well, obviously Nora never should have demeaned the Publick. That had just set them off wrong. If she had just smiled and nodded, they would have been the best of friends.

And maybe Piper should have been more forgiving. It was not like her paper had saved those refugees. She was here, with her pen and paper and a different kind of danger. It wasn’t Nora’s fault she didn’t understand. She was used to seeing danger as a Deathclaw or a Raider gang, not wondering if the local bartender had put something in her drink. Not trying to keep a whole city from falling apart because a few greedy bastards wanted to line their pockets.

“Okay.”

Piper looked up to see a very dejected Nora sitting beside her. “Okay, what?”

“Okay, maybe I was thinking about you,” Nora admitted.

Piper preened. “Were you? Did I keep you up at night?”

“You did,” the beautiful woman mumbled. “You really did.”

Smug did not begin to cover the expression that flooded Piper’s face. The voice in her head turned into a singsong chorus of _you liked me, you liked me._ As ridiculous as it was, especially when she thought about how intimate they had been in the last few days alone, she really did love hearing that Nora admired her or liked the way she looked or thought she wasn’t completely insane.

Maybe this would not be so bad. Piper started to push herself away from the bar. They had places to go, things to do, lifelong commitments to make.

Nora wasn’t finished. “I still remember the night after I saw your article.”

Piper paused. “You do?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I ever told you the story, did I?” Nora asked. Piper managed to shake her head before Nora began. “So this really, really pretty girl in Diamond City – hey, no laughing – this really pretty girl wrote this really nice article about me. Naturally, the first thing I did, before telling her that I loved her, was run out into the Wasteland and hide under a rock.”

Piper held her hand up to forestall any more horrible storytelling but Nora ignored her. “I found this old building to hole up in and tried to get my head around it. I remember thinking about how weird it was that I was feeling like this again. I kept feeling guilty about Nate and about wanting to be with someone again. And then there was Shaun. How could I think about anything when Shaun was still out there?”

_Oh. Oh, shit._ “Nora…”

“But I couldn’t keep holding on to them forever. I know Nate wouldn’t have wanted that for me. If it had been the other way, if I had been the one who died and he ended up out here alone, I know that I would have wanted someone with him. Someone to keep him… well, him. Alive and sane and hopeful. Someone like you.”

Nora looked up and smiled. “I loved Nate, Piper. I always will. Just like I’ll always love Shaun,” her hand found Piper’s thigh. “Just like I’ll always love you. And Nat, of course.”

Piper just stared as Nora returned to her noodles, oblivious to the ring in Piper’s pocket. “So, anyway, that’s what happened that night. That enough feelings for the day?”

_Not if I have anything to say about it._

Piper stood and took Nora’s arm. “Come on. There’s something I wanted to show you.”

Nora stood, reaching into her pocket as Piper dragged her away. “Hey, aren’t we going to pay for those?”

The Protectron behind the counter looked up at Piper and then went about its business. “He knows I’m good for it.”

And there was not a moment to waste. Piper led Nora down the street, hardly a block away from Publick Occurrences. She walked to one of the locked doors and pulled a key from her other pocket. Nora was looking around curiously but did not look terribly worried.

“What is this place?”

Piper listened to the lock click and sighed. Well, here goes nothing. “You’ll see.”

The door to Home Plate swung open with a dramatic creak. Piper led Nora inside, flicking the switch on the wall to light the barren rooms. The house had been empty for years and Piper had never imagined herself as being the one who would finally purchase it. For one thing, only half of the building was finished. There was still a workshop and a few tons of lumber hiding in one of the back rooms and she thought she could see a bag of cement hiding under the stairs.

Nora was shaking her head. “Piper? What is this?”

“Home Plate,” Piper said quietly. “I heard it was up for sale and I thought I’d come take a look.”

“And you bought it? Piper, what in… oh my God.”

Nora turned around and gasped as Piper dropped to one knee. She even brought one hand in front of her mouth. Piper felt her cheeks splitting as the sight lifted her up and carried her away. Everything was perfect. Nora was smiling. She was smiling and she was going to say yes.

“Nora,” Piper began slowly, trying to remember the speech she had prepared for this. “Ever since we met, you’ve always driven me insane.”

Nora snickered and blushed and looked around the room as Piper grinned from ear to ear. “You’re awful.”

“At first, I thought it was just our age difference,” Piper continued as Nora giggled again. “Or that you hadn’t gotten enough radiation to be as normal as the rest of us. But, after spending so much time with you, I started to realize that maybe you were just crazy. And nothing in the world made me happier than realizing that. It meant that maybe, if I was lucky, you might be crazy enough to spend time with me, someone who thought the world needed a paper more than running water.”

“And you were. And then I started to realize you were more than crazy. You were kind and caring and selfless and brave. You were always there for me, even when I didn’t deserve it. Especially when I didn’t deserve it. You were always there for me when I needed to talk. And you’ve never stopped being patient with me, even when I drag you out into the Wasteland for a story.”

“You’re perfect, Blue. I don’t know what I did to get so lucky with you but I never want that to change. I never want to be apart from you. I want to wake up every morning with your hair in my face. I want to fall asleep every night wondering if my little sister loves you more than me. I want to hate how perfect you are and spend every waking moment trying to be the kind of woman you deserve in your life.”

Piper fished in her pocket for the ring, her hands shaking and sweaty. “Nora,” she asked, the little blue stone shining in the light of their new home. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Nora gasped, her hand falling to reveal a huge grin beneath teary eyes. “God, yes.”

Piper smiled and laughed and pushed the ring onto Nora’s outstretched hand. “Oh, it’s loose, is that –“

Nora pulled her off the floor and squeezed her until her ribs cracked. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

“I didn’t know – was that the right hand? Or, wait, was I supposed to –“

More squeezing cut off the last of her air and reduced her words to desperate, wheezing gasps. “It’s perfect. You were perfect.”

Piper groaned and tried to push Nora away without actually pushing her away. She wanted to be held, she wanted to be loved, just in a way that let her keep air in her lungs. Nora was still talking, repeating her ‘I love you’s into Piper’s shoulder. Piper managed to get a few words out. “Can’t breathe.”

“Well, neither could I,” Nora said as she loosened her grip just enough to let Piper’s lungs start working. “Seeing you on one knee like that. You almost gave me a heart attack. And this house! Piper, I… Is this ours?”

Piper nodded and looked around sheepishly. “I know it isn’t much, but –“

Again, Nora tried to kill her. “I love it! I can’t believe you did this. I… What did I ever to do deserve you, Piper?”

“Well, crushing the life out of me wasn’t it, Blue! Put me down!”

Nora did put her down but did not stop hugging her. Instead she kissed her, and even as the air in Piper’s lungs began to burn she didn’t pull away. She wanted this to last. She wanted it to be perfect.

At long last Nora pulled away and let Piper catch her breath. “Oh my God. I can’t wait to tell Nat. Can I tell her? Do you want to?”

“I ask you to marry me and the first thing you do is ask about my sister?” Piper groaned, barely dodging a swipe from Nora’s hand.

“I can’t say yes until I have her permission,” Nora said haughtily. “We both know she’s the one who has to let me into the family.”

She really was. “You’re right. I should have asked Nat before I went out and got the ring,” Piper forced a sigh that failed to hide her smile. “But I want to tell her, not you.”

Nora grinned and bounced and tried to shove Piper toward the door and look around their new home at the same time. “Piper, I can’t believe you did this. This is amazing. There’s so much I have to do before you and Nat move in. There’s the floor and beds and we’ll have room for a real kitchen. The new and improved Café Piper.”

Of course she was thinking about food. Piper tried to shepherd her toward the door but found herself caught up in the moment. This was their home. Their home. She got giddy just thinking about it. They were going to live here. Together. All of them. No more sleeping behind the printing press for Nat. She could have a real space for herself. Maybe even a whole room.

Nora was still talking, laying out the floor plan as if she could see it already. A couch over there, a table there, a rug to fill in the space here. Piper could have watched her for hours. She probably would, too, once Nora realized she could not do all this herself. She would need help.

And Piper would be there for her. Always.


	8. Parent Teacher Conference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper protects Nat from a threat she never saw coming. Nora regrets leaving Diamond City.

Piper stood outside the locked door, her fists clenched as she tried to calm down. She had to keep her head. This was too important. There was too much riding on this for her to mess it up.

“Damn it, Blue,” she muttered, the leather of her gloves creaking in protest as her knuckles went white. “Where are you when I need you?”

Off chasing her damn radio signal. Death robots wandering around the Commonwealth and she had left Piper behind! Oh, she was going to get hell when she came back. And Diamond City hadn’t exactly been quiet since the fall of the Institute. First the Mayor and now… THIS.

The door stood, dark and foreboding as Piper glowered. She took a deep breath and sighed. “Okay. You have to do this alone. Come on, Pipes. Keep it together.”

She would have taken the Institute over this fresh horror. It had taken her so completely by surprise that she was not even sure how to react. This was new. Well, no, not really. Piper had made a living taking down corruption and fighting every kind of monster the Commonwealth could cough up. This should not have been any different.

The note crinkled in her fist. That made it different. She tried to burn through the paper just by staring at it. They had threatened Nat. Nat. After all that time in the hospital and everything else, they had the gall to threaten the little girl. No, this was not like anything Piper had faced ever before. It was too personal. Too important.

Her pistol hung comfortably at her hip. She hoped she wouldn’t need it but the Commonwealth was a dangerous place even in the best of times. And these were not the best of times. She was going up against something she was completely unprepared for. Looking back on all her busts before – the Children of Atom, Raiders, chem traffickers – they all paled in comparison to this next, horrible fight. She wondered if she would have preferred a few Coursers to greet her on the far side of the door.

She shoved the note into her pocket. It didn’t matter who was on the other side. Someone was going to pay for this. And if Nora wasn’t going to be here to help, well, Piper was just going to have to make do. She could do this on her own. She had done it for years. And she had to protect her family.

Sucking in a deep breath, Piper puffed out her chest, squared her shoulders, and kicked in the door. “ALL RIGHT, WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE?!”

 

Nora sat in the shade, her back against the factory wall, and enjoyed one of the Commonwealth’s rare moments of quiet. It was a chance to reflect on her time with Piper. She could think about all her life’s decisions, revisit her greatest moments, and imagine the many, many things she wanted to do with Piper when she got back home. Normally she would have just closed her eyes, bit her lip, and let her mind run wild, but today she had work to do. Important work.

Her fingers brushed the book in her lap. She really should get to work. The cover had rotted away or been scavenged for toilet paper long ago, but the rest of the tome remained untouched. That made sense. Even before the war, it would have made for a boring read and back then it might have had some use. Even so, this was all she had, and right now, she had every need for the information it might hold.

Dust leaked between the pages as she turned to the glossary. _Hmm. What about M? That might be a good start._ Her finger traced a visible line down the old paper, taking with it a streak of grime. She read the list in a monotone she could not place. Probably some old college professor that read off his notes and never looked up. _Mechanical trouble, legs. Mechanical trouble, torso. Metals, corrosion._

She rolled her eyes. Of course it wouldn’t be here. No one indexed using the word ‘My’. What about R? For robot? She flipped back to the cover and read it silently. The General Atomics Manual for Robot Repair. How many times could the word robot possibly appear?

Which left her with only a few options and the unpleasant realization that she would have to admit, if only to the book itself, what exactly she was trying to fix in her robot. The E section brought her a bit closer. _Emotions – troubleshooting._ Nora flipped to the page, only to discover the section had disappeared, eaten by some well-intentioned, irradiated moth. Well, that was it. She would have to do this on her own.

She snapped the book closed and leaned back against the building once more. She tried to lose herself in the sound of the wind as it carried across the water. Just one moment of peace. One moment with Piper. Lord, did she miss that woman. Travelling with Ada had been an… experience. Enlightening, even. Interesting. Full of odd questions and a whole lot of uncomfortable silence and stilted conversation. That probably meant something, but then again, Nora had never been very good at dealing with robotic life. Her track record with Synths was hardly inspiring.

The dull clunking of heavy metal legs woke her from her peace. She slipped the book under her coat and pretended to be watching the shore as her latest travelling companion wandered over.

“Good afternoon, ma’am. I am ready to travel whenever you are.”

Nora lolled her head to the side, looking Ada up and down and wondering how she was supposed to respond to that. It had been going on like this for nearly a month. These helpful, selfless statements that Nora had no idea how to respond to except with her customary “Thanks, Ada. Are you sure you’re good to go?”

“Of course, ma’am. I don’t require sleep or food in order to function. My only goal was to avenge the deaths of those travelling with me in the caravan. Now that we have finished, I find myself wanting only to accompany you.”

The blinking lights did little to illuminate Ada’s inner feelings, but her tone was expressive enough for Nora to detect sincerity. “I’d be glad to have you,” Nora said, somewhat bending the truth. She did like Ada, just not enough to be joined at the hip with her. 

“I must admit, I still find myself reviewing my actions on that day and on all the days since my creation. Since travelling with you, I have become much more capable than I was before, leading me to the conclusion that this has been a good thing. However, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I had left before the attack. Perhaps I should have sought you out before. I could have been stronger. I could have protected them. And I cannot help but conclude that their deaths were my responsibility. I must conclude that I failed them.”

Of course she did. General Atomics had really done a number on this one. They had taken a perfectly good robot and given it anxiety.

Nora sighed, looking across the water toward Diamond City. “I know how you feel, Ada. I lost a lot of people, too. People I really cared about. And for a long time I blamed myself because I was sure I failed them,” she murmured. Feeling her lip twitch into a small smile, she let herself speak. “Let me tell you a story.”

“A story, ma’am?”

“Yeah,” Nora said, smiling a little wider. “About how I lost my family and almost everyone I cared about. Don’t worry, you’ll love it. It’s got robots, adventure, and this lovely reporter you might have heard of.”

 

“Miss Wright?”

The door banged off the wall and nearly caught Piper in the ass as she marched in. “I said, who’s in charge here?!”

A single, nonplussed Mr. Handy bobbed at the far end of the room. “I am, Miss Wright. May I ask why you did not simply knock? I left the door open for you.”

Trying to lull her into a sense of complacency, was it? Devious little robot. “Ha. Locking the door would hardly have kept me out. Now, I’m giving you a chance to explain yourself before I start bringing this whole place down around your head.” She yanked the note from her pocket and waved it at the robot still hovering at the far side of the room. “Did you send me this?”

“I did, ma’am. I think your understanding of the situation is of the greatest importance.”

“What I understand,” Piper fumed. “Is that this note is about my little sister. I understand that you have something to say about her. What you need to understand –“

“Miss Wright, may I –“

“Is that I would do anything for my family. The way you talk about her in this note – if you have something to say to me, you come out and say it. Don’t go through my family. We both know what’s really going on here.”

“I’m not sure that’s true, ma’am, and –“

“I don’t care who you are or who you think you represent. This so-called ‘organization’ of yours can’t just make threats like this,” she spat, finishing her air-quotes with another flourish of the letter. “Just what exactly gives you the right to make statements like this?”

The Mr. Handy paused for a moment. “Well, we like to think of ourselves as a public service.”

“Exactly!”

“And Miss Natalie is –“

Piper shook the note again. “And you sent this home with her!”

“Our organization here maintains a policy that, should any individual show any kind of disruptive or violent behavior –“

“Oh, now this organization of yours – one set up by the puppet government of a rogue Synth – is talking about disruptive behavior! Should I go ahead and add slander to your list of charges?”

“Miss Wright, our organization was not founded by Mayor McDonough. We had no knowledge or direct affiliation with him.”

“So you claim.”

The engine under the Mr. Handy sputtered audibly. “Miss Wright, please. You are disturbing the peace.”

“Am I? Am I ruining the charade you’ve worked so hard to create? Am I exposing you for the crooked monsters that you really are? This place is nothing more than a ruse! A lie! A sweatshop for the thought police!”

“Miss Wright –“ The robot’s voice began to grow shrill.

“And you! You’re the one in charge of it all? Or are you just another puppet? Who is pulling the strings around here?”

“The welfare of everyone under this roof is my responsibility and I take it very seriously!”

“The welfare of –“ now it was Piper’s turn to sputter. “Who exactly do you think you are?!”

There was a long moment of silence, punctuated only by the engine of the Mr. Handy. Piper thought she saw the eyes narrow into a glare as it stared her down.

“The school, Miss Wright,” the Mr. Handy said wearily. “Diamond City’s only school, in fact. And we’re very proud of it.”


	9. On the Road Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper gets kicked out of Diamond City. Twice.

Nora trudged up the last road to Diamond City, blissfully alone but more than ready to have her privacy invaded. Every time she left, she never got farther than the crumbling wall before she started pining for home. She missed her soft bed, the pitter patter of Nat’s feet as she zipped around Home Plate and covered every bit of exposed concrete with colorful drawings. She missed the quiet almost as much as the infernal racket her new family could make. She missed the peace and security of a family almost as much as the creeping terror of what mischief that family was getting itself into. The moments of silence were sweet, short, and always filled with Nora’s anxieties.

But more than anything else, she missed –

“Damn it, Danny, you can’t just close the gate on me! I’m standing out here in the open, for crying out loud!”

Piper. Nora stopped in her tracks and smiled. She looked up at the clear sky and savored the moment. It was almost like Christmas for her. What fresh hell had Piper unleashed inside the walls? What horrible scheme had she uncovered? Who had she infuriated? Had she shot anyone? Had she been shot? Every time she came home, there was a new story, and that story was always more unbelievable than the last. Nora had started to think that staying home and following Piper around would be more dangerous than her usual errands around the Commonwealth, robot-Raider death squads be damned.

A man’s voice crackled through the speaker, too garbled for Nora to make out but she could hear Piper fuming and humming and making all sorts of angry noises. Piper was really less a woman and more a large, rather attractive badger that had learned to talk.

Nora rounded the corner in time to see the badger pawed at the ground and raised its claws in fury. “Ooh, the big bad reporter’s gonna get ya! Boo! Come on, Danny, I didn’t even do anything.”

Danny’s voice now carried easily through the speaker. “I’m sorry, Piper, but the Mayor’s real steamed about the things you said. And honestly I don’t blame her!”

The Mayor? When had that happened? Nora sauntered up behind the still-oblivious Piper and, as curious as she was, decided to watch her wife at work. “Of course you don’t, Danny, because you still believe that those crooks are here to help you! I’m telling you, you can’t trust you kids with them! You’d be crazy to let any part of your family near them!”

“Those crooks,” Danny’s voice sounded tired even through the speaker. “Really, Piper? You don’t even trust the school?”

“How can I trust a nefarious cult that only attacks our children and then sends them home with – with –“

“Yes, we all heard about Nat,” Danny said in a patronizing tone that made Nora bristle. “What did you expect?”

“What happened to Nat?” Nora asked, stepping up beside Piper and speaking into the microphone.

“Oh, Miss Nora. I, um, didn’t realize,” Danny mumbled awkwardly.

He was soon cut off by Piper. “Blue! When did you get back? Hey, you want to get into the city right?” She winked conspiratorially and began puffing herself up. “What’s that? You came back with all that salvage? I’ve seen caravan’s carry less loot than –“

Nora cleared her throat noisily to cut her off. “Danny? Is Nat okay?”

“Nat’s fine, Miss, I promise. Miss Piper just got a little excited about –“

“Of course I got –“

“Piper!” Nora tried to stop both of them from talking over each other but they just kept going.

“ – about a note the school sent home with Nat.”

“You call that a note? It was a threat! A bold-faced, unashamed –“

Nora raised a finger at Piper and glared. “What. Was. The note?”

Piper began to puff herself up even more. Now they were getting somewhere. Without losing a bit of her hot air, she dug through her pockets until she produced a crumpled scrap of paper. Nora snatched it from her fingers before she could start speaking again.

_Miss Wright,_

_With regard to recent, disruptive behavior from your younger sister, the school would like to arrange a meeting between yourself and her regular teacher. Natalie is a bright student and we love having her in our classes, but we believe certain activities could lead her to causing trouble for other students and for herself. Please respond at your earliest convenience._

_Warmest Regards,  
DCS_

Nora lowered the note and looked up at Piper, who wasted no time in offering her opinion. “See? They threatened her! I couldn’t just let them get away with it.”

Danny jumped in almost on top of her. “She went to the school, Miss Nora. She kicked the door in and started threatening the teacher. The whole city was in an uproar when they heard about it.”

Piper opened her mouth and was about to rip the speaker from the door when Nora interrupted them both. “All right!” After a moment of silence, she turned to the speaker. “Open the door, Danny.”

“But –“

“Danny, I’ve had a very long day. I’ve had a very long month. I’ve fought killer robots, angry raiders, and floating brains in jars, and I had to do it with the most anxious pile of aluminum I’ve ever met. Right now, you’re standing between me and a warm bed. If you don’t open this door, so help me God, I will climb the wall, march into that tiny little office of yours and shove that speaker so far up your ass you’ll make static when you sneeze. Are we clear?”

After a moment of silence, the door began creaking open. Piper crowed in triumph. “You tell ‘em, Blue! How’s that feel, Danny?”

“And you,” Nora said, rounding on Piper. “You went after _the school?_ ”

“They threatened –“

“No, they didn’t. What did Nat even do, anyway?”

“Nothing!”

“Danny?”

The gate ground to a halt above them and Danny, now properly chastened, again spoke over the intercom. “Honestly, she didn’t do much of anything, Miss Nora. It sounds like she just got into a fight with one of the other kids. Something about the new Mayor doing something shady.” There was a small chuckle. “She takes after her sister. Except less… well, you know.”

Piper lunged for the speaker, then stopped. Not even Piper could argue that. Nora watched her badger grumble and shuffle and start making her way inside. “Thank you, Danny.”

As they passed into the shade of Diamond City’s walls, Piper gave Nora a wounded look. “Gee, thanks for backing me up out there, Blue.”

“Piper, I know you’re scared of losing Nat after everything that happened and I know this is just you doing your job, but this is serious. You got kicked out of the city, Pipes. How are you supposed to keep Nat safe from out there?” Nora tried to keep her voice calm. She knew her wife well, and to her, that letter from the school had really been a ransom note.

Piper chuffed along beside her, kicking at rocks and pouting as they made for the stairs. “I had it under control. Danny wouldn’t have kept me out there long. He was just doing his job, making a point and all that.”

They passed Danny’s office on their way up the stairs. Nora gave him a cheerful smile while Piper stuck her tongue out at him. The poor man just sat there looking miserable. Nora had to wonder how much trouble Piper alone caused him on any given day. Maybe she had been too hard on him out there. But, in her defense, it had been a very long time since she had been home, and she desperately wanted to sleep.

“So,” Piper asked, her voice taking on that excited, interviewing lilt. “How’d it go?”

Nora just groaned. “The Commonwealth is safe from the evil robot threat. I, alone, have saved the world. Again.”

Piper tittered. “I’m quoting you on that. What happened? What were they after? What about that robot you met? Ada, right? You never told me what happened to her. And you never let me interview her, either.”

“Count yourself lucky,” Nora grumbled. She sighed, knowing full well she was being unfair. “Sorry. She’s all right. I left her at Sanctuary. Maybe building a few shelters will keep her from feeling too guilty over everything.”

“I wouldn’t mind travelling to get a few words with her,” Piper said, no doubt planning the trip in her head already. “You should have let me come with you. I could have helped. You know, after the last time we tried to save the world. I know things got a little… well…”

Nora nodded. She was as eager as Piper to move past the memory of what had happened in the Institute. What they had gone through together. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I should have asked. I just thought that you’d want to be here with Nat for a while.”

“I know. And I’m glad I was,” Piper said, apparently forgetting that staying here with Nat had nearly gotten her evicted. “It gave me a chance to check out this new Mayor. You should have been here for the elections. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“I believe it,” Nora said, turning toward Home Plate as they entered Diamond City proper. She wondered what post-apocalyptic elections even looked like. Moe probably had a satisfying answer ready. After each debate, moderated by the press, the candidate who told the truth more often is taken out of the city and fed to the Ghouls.

Which, Nora had to admit, sounded far less painful than being grilled for an hour by an angry Piper. The reporter herself seemed happy enough. Nora caught her eyeing a few editions of the Publick that still hung from a nearby billboard. “Yep. Good days for the press, Blue.”

Of course they were. “So who is this new Mayor?”

“A wanderer, actually. Said her name was Ashton. Mayor Emily Ashton.” Piper said the name with more than a little scorn. “Two weeks and everyone here was eating out of her hand.”

“And you?”

Piper scoffed. “Of course not. Not me. Never had me fooled for a minute.”

Nora pushed her way through the door and let it swing closed behind them. Piper wandered into the living room looking thoroughly guilty. “Really, now?”

“Nope,” Piper promised hollowly.

“You put her up for Mayor, didn’t you?”

Piper whirled. “She was perfect, Blue! She had – she was – just meet her and –“

“I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re all over someone else.”

“It wasn’t five minutes!” Piper yelped. “You were gone for a month! And she helped Nat! And then she said she wanted to help Diamond City and let the Ghouls back in – did you know she worked with Ghouls? At the Slog? That’s, I mean –“

Nora let her rifle thump down by the wall. “I’m starting to see why Nat doesn’t like her. But I’m sure she’s perfect. Except, you know, for kicking you out of your home.”

Piper snapped her mouth shut and glared. “Everyone makes mistakes. Maybe I made one putting her up for Mayor, I don’t know.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It sounds like Nat is on top of everything,” she said as she climbed the stairs to their bed. She would need to check in on Nat once she had gotten some sleep. The girl should have learned better than to tackle corrupt governments alone after all the pain Piper had gone through.

She heard Piper following her up the stairs. “I like to think I taught her well.”

“You certainly taught her something,” Nora mumbled just loud enough for Piper to hear.

“You’re hilarious.” Piper waited until Nora was standing over the bed before shoving her backward. “All right, stranger. No more small talk. _You_ owe me a story.”

 

Nora hung her head over her mug of coffee and let the steam warm her face. She missed the old world every now and again but never more so then when she was nursing a cup of Diamond City Dirtwater. She missed her real coffee shops, her overpriced pastries, the places she could turn up her pinky finger and sip on an espresso like the spoiled, cosmopolitan woman she was. Everyone had their weaknesses, after all, and there was just no way to get that feeling of smug superiority anymore. She supposed she could build a throne of bones from all the Super Mutants she had killed or make a nice coffee mug out of a Deathclaw skull, but it was just not the same.

The door rattled as Piper launched herself into another fit of shouting. Judging by how long it had been going, Nora would probably not get to enjoy herself much longer. The thought of being back out on the road made her feet hurt and her nerves shake but at least Piper would be with her this time. Whenever something horrible happened, it was usually because they had gone their separate ways.

But leaving Natalie never got any easier, and Nora felt herself pitch forward just a little more, her head all but touching the brown water. Maybe having Piper around curbed her influence on the girl’s development. They had already had many, many talks about little Natalie becoming like Piper and they had both agreed it was not a fate they wanted for the girl. She deserved better. If that meant Nora had to lock Piper away for long periods of time and make sure Nat stayed out of the house as much as possible, that was just fine with her.

She just wished that was the case every time. But, as any good Diamond City citizens knew, you can’t stop the press. “You can’t kick me out! Dammit all, I live here! This is my house!”

More muttering from outside. Nora supposed that would be the Mayor. She also supposed she should go introduce herself and try to keep Piper from murdering anyone but sometimes people just needed to fend for themselves. She had just gotten home, for God’s sake, she was supposed to be sleeping. Let someone else save the world for once.

“No, I’m not angry!” Piper shouted, apparently trying to win the argument on volume alone. “I’m indignant! I’m hurt! I helped you get into office and now you want me gone?! Why?”

The Mayor probably could have just sat in silence and let Piper figure that out. Nora hoped that was exactly what she did. Arguing with Piper, as Nora herself had learned, usually ended with one or both of them on the ground. Of course, in Nora’s case, that had actually worked out for the best, but not everyone could be so lucky.

Nora put her head in her hands and stared at the door morosely. _I’m not up for another adventure, Pipes. Just make nice. Come on. Just this once._

The door creaked open. Nora hid behind the steaming mug and feigned ignorance of the whole thing. A moment later Piper stumped in and slammed the door. “Lousy ungrateful little woman,” she muttered as she stalked in. “Should never have written a word about you. So, you like being in office, huh? Well, let’s see what the press has to say about that.”

Nora swirled her coffee and took one good gulp, swallowing hard to avoid having to taste the wretched, wonderful stuff. “So?”

Piper turned to Nora and raised one hand. She looked like she was about to fly off the handle and start tearing down another regime that very day. Instead, she faltered, her eyes finding Nora’s and suddenly going very soft. “I’m sorry, Blue. I, uh, I didn’t exactly play nice while you were gone.”

“I didn’t exactly expect you to,” Nora chortled.

“Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have tried. I know you wanted some time off before I dragged you out the door again,” Piper said, wandering over to the table and pulling up a chair. She stared at the mug for a moment, her eyes brightening just a bit as a thought occurred. “Well, I guess she’s not kicking you out. It’s just me. You can stay here and rest and –“

By now Nora had choked on her coffee and was waving for Piper to stop. “God, Piper, what kind of woman do you think I am?”

“What?” Piper asked, her voice sharp and indignant. “I’m telling you that you can stay here!”

“And let you wander around alone? Didn’t the bombs do enough damage? The world has suffered enough without you running rampant out there.”

Piper glowered but Nora had been with her too long to be fooled. She saw the little twitch at the corner of her mouth, the excited gleam in her eye no amount of scowling could obscure. “Starting to feel less awful about this whole thing, Blue.”

Nora shrugged. “Good. Then you can put that brain of yours to work figuring out where we’ll go next.”

Her eyes suddenly shone like the stadium lights. “Already did. While you were out playing hero, I started talking with Nick again. Turns out he’s got some cold cases he wants us to solve and not all of them were local. Ellie and I could only get through so many before, um, well, before I started investigating –“

“Before you went and accused the schoolteacher of treason?”

“Before I investigated possible sources of corruption near the youth of Diamond City,” Piper said pointedly. “And I had a very reliable source.”

“Would this be the same source that’s going after the Mayor?”

Now Piper looked concerned. “I don’t know. Honest, Blue, I didn’t know she was doing anything besides going to school. She’s been so quiet since you left. I thought she just missed you. And I was so busy with the stupid elections and keeping the damn city together that I didn’t see it.”

“It’s all right, Piper. Come on, it’s Nat. She’s going to be fine. We can talk to her before we go and make sure she keeps her head down until all this blows over.”

Piper nodded but she doubted either of them believed that would work. She was Piper’s sister, after all. Nora had started to wonder what kind of people Piper and her family had descended from and had eventually concluded that Piper and her family had been produced in a lab. They had taken the genetic predispositions of the most vicious bloodhound and mixed them with the most beautiful woman in the world. The result was Piper Wright. Her sister, thank God, came from the same mix but one diluted with a few ounces of good sense.

Nora often wondered how long that would last. She already knew Nat was sharper than both of her guardians. Give it a few years and the little monster would be running circles around them both, turning their hair grey and the Commonwealth into someplace livable. Piper would be so proud. And Nora would be so tired.

She took another gulp from her mug and examined the grounds still staining the cup. Well, if the world had gone to hell and she couldn’t enjoy a good cup of coffee, she could still enjoy a good story or two. “All right,” Nora stood, pushing her stool away and stretching. “I’ll get the bag.”

Piper pushed her own seat away and sighed. “Yeah. I’ll start packing.”

“Already done,” Nora said. She snorted as Piper whirled in surprise. “Come on, how long have we been together?”

Piper smirked. “I’m getting predictable, am I?”

“Well the Mayor thing was a surprise,” Nora admitted. “But I know who I married.”

Nora walked to the corner where she had neatly stacked her gear, her coffee mug abruptly forgotten on the table. She hoisted her pack, wrapped her scarf about her neck, and slung her new rifle over her shoulder. Her coat still held the Deathclaw knife she had made so long ago and from her belt hung the pistol that had made her famous. Piper had her own 10mm automatic and a stash of Nuka Colas somewhere in her coat. How the things never broke was a mystery but Piper always seemed to have one on hand in an emergency.

Piper took her time in leaving. Nora waited by the door, watching her set things back where they belonged and tidying up little spaces Nora was sure had not been touched since she had been gone. She knew what it meant, of course: that if Nat needed a place to stay, her home was always there for her. Even if her family was not.

After a long moment of staring at Nat’s bed, Piper walked back to the door with Nora. “Alright. I’m ready.”

“We’ll say goodbye before we go, Pipes. Don’t worry.”

“I know,” Piper smiled. So did Nora. They were getting old. That spark of adventure was beginning to die and the desire for a quiet life of raising a family had begun to creep in.

But not before they made a few more stories for themselves. Nora pushed the door open. “So, Detective Wright, what’s our first case?”


	10. Prodigal Daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper and Nora are forced to seek shelter in a nearby settlement but Piper really doesn't want to go

Dust blew over the road in thick, choking clouds. The afternoon sun had begun turning them from brown to orange, turning the landscape almost Martian. The Wasteland did feel like another planet even at the best of times.

Nora cinched the scarf tighter around her mouth and nose. The dust was the least of what she was trying to keep out. The smoke was worse than the dust. And then there was the smell. She had no idea how long they had been standing here, in the middle of nowhere, baking in the hot sun, but she was determined to stick it out. That was what she did, after all. She stayed with her wife. If she didn’t, no one else would, and the world could not handle Piper Wright striking out on her own.

The woman herself sat beside Nora, brooding and angry. Piper had made a name for herself being unapologetically loud but she was at her most intimidating when she was silent. That was when Nora knew something was really, really wrong.

Now she had been silent for a good, long while, perched on the side of the overturned and burning wagon. Nora did not need to peer beneath the rim of her cap to see the bleak expression on her face. They had come a long way for this and in an instant, it had all quite literally gone up in smoke. All because of one unfortunate Brahmin.

Nora peered over her shoulder to glare at the body. It was almost invisible in the dust but she could still make out the sad lump that had stopped their epic chase. Poor thing never stood a chance. It was like the bad ending of some Hollywood Wild West flick. She looked up toward the team of horses – what passed for horses in the Wasteland, anyway – that had fallen victim to the crash. They looked like they might have been Radstags but, in the dust and with how spectacular the crash had been, she could no longer tell. It was all just one big mess.

And they were still sitting in it. Piper had not spoken. The only sound was the wind mixing with the crackling embers and the sad creak of a wagon wheel spinning on a shattered axle. Nora eyed her, trying to think up exactly what the right words would be. She should say something.

She cleared her throat to try her luck.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Piper said coldly.

Nora winced and went back to staring at the road with a very meek “Okay.”

The wind blew. The dust billowed. The wheel creaked.

“So –“

“Okay, fine, you were right. You were right and we should have just let him run. Happy?”

Nora pursed her lips and waited a few moments before answering. “We almost had him.”

Piper looked up at her with the most vicious glare Nora had ever seen. Nora gave her a tiny shrug in the hopes that it would both convey her sincerity and cool Piper’s head. It seemed to do both. “Yeah we did,” Piper grumbled. “Until we were foiled by a fucking cow.”

Nora snorted. “We won’t be telling this story when we get home, will we?”

“If you breathe a word you’ll be sleeping outside for a month.”

That was fair. It was not like Nora was any more eager to tell the tale. “Fair enough.”

Piper at last spared the burned-out wagon a glance. What was left of the driver could be seen peeking out from under the splintered mess. Piper summed it up nicely. “The world will never know what happened to the treasure of the great bandit One-Eye.”

The whole thing had Nora shaking her head. What bandit treasure could there be in the Wasteland? A Nuka bottling plant? There would be plenty of caps there? Or was there still the age-old obsession with mountains of gold coins?

As Piper had said, the world would never know. Nora tightened her scarf again. “We shouldn’t stay much longer, Pipes. That smoke will bring more raiders.”

Piper laughed bitterly. “From where? We’re in the middle of nowhere! There’s – well, nothing, except a…”

She trailed off, looking at Nora fearfully to see if she had actually been listening. Nora raised an eyebrow. “A what?”

There was a long pause as Piper peered around the desolate nothingness that engulfed them. They could barely even see the road beneath them, so how Piper knew what was around was completely beyond Nora. “Never mind. We’re not that far away from that last settlement. We can just follow the road and we’ll be there before dark.”

“Sure, before dark tomorrow.” Nora shook her head. Had they been on the same death ride across the Wasteland or had she just imagined that? “How fast do you think we were going during that chase? We won’t make it back before tonight and I’d rather not spend the night exposed out here.”

“We can make it,” Piper argued, stubborn as ever. “We’ve fought Deathclaws before.”

“We’ve fought –“ Nora sputtered. “If you’re set on doing this, fine, but at least tell me what’s so damned scary about this place that you’d rather fight a Deathclaw in the dark than spend one night there. What is it? Raider stronghold? Feral Ghould sanctuary?”

Piper glared and grumbled and shuffled about on the wagon. “Fine. Fine! We’ll go. And we’ll stay one night. One. Just one.”

“Okay but that doesn’t answer –“

“One night!” Piper snapped as she hopped to her feet. “And you don’t talk to anyone.”

“I – what?”

“Don’t talk to anyone, don’t ask any questions, do not mention my name, don’t look anyone in the eye.”

“Am I allowed to breathe?”

“Only when I tell you,” Piper said, stumping off into the swirling dust. “So unless you want to see how long you can hold your breath, stop asking me about it.”

Nora had never been into that sort of thing so she kept quiet as they wandered over the nameless orange dunes. She would have enough to worry about anyway, what with Radscorpions and Deathclaws surely stalking them and their visibility reduced to a few dozen yards. Her rifle would not do much good against a charging Deathclaw at that range. She would probably not even have time to get a shot off.

But she would try. That was what she did. She let Piper lead and she followed right behind, finger by the trigger.

 

“So what did you do?”

They had made it within sight of the settlement walls without Nora asking any questions but that was as far as she could go. She wanted to know what she was getting in to. She had a right to know. Sort of.

Piper did not agree and the noise she made conveyed that very clearly. “What did I tell you?”

“You can tell me! It’s not like I’m going to go spreading it around. Who did you piss off?”

“What makes you think I pissed anyone off?”

Nora smiled innocently. “You said it yourself. You’re a very successful journalist.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what?” Nora waited for Piper to answer but she seemed more than content to ignore the question altogether. “Is it like the Railroad? Are you a celebrity here, too? Should I be ready to fend off adoring masses?”

Piper snorted. “No. Now stop asking.”

“I’ll bet you got rid of their mayor.”

“I didn’t –“ Piper raised a finger at Nora but faltered mid-protest. “Okay, well, yes, but that isn’t the point.”

Nora chuckled gleefully. “You know, I’m beginning to think you have a problem with authority.”

If Piper was in a better mood, there surely would have been a terrible joke in store for her, but she was too busy pouting to make good on the opportunity. “Listen, the people here probably don’t even remember me. It was a really long time ago and things happened that I don’t want to be reminded about. And I would really rather not have everyone in town reminding me of it, either, so can we just, I don’t know, stay quiet? Keep a low profile for once?”

The words made sense, but not coming from Piper Wright. “Do you know how to do that?”

“I can be discreet when I want to be!” Piper huffed and glowered at the wood-and-steel walls coming into view. “Forget I said anything. Just… be normal.”

Now Nora was curious. What had happened? What tyrannical dictator had Piper toppled this time? For all the hell Nora gave her, Piper was not doing this for her own reputation. She did it for the greater good, and having her name attached to it was her way of being brave. She probably would have done it anonymously if she could have, but the printing press in front of her home was something of a giveaway. Not to mention she needed the caps to keep Nat fed and the work of passing out papers to keep her out of trouble.

What was Nat doing right now, Nora wondered. She had just finished the living room in Home Plate. She would hate to come home and find it burned to the ground.

They were still a way off from the walls when someone first hailed them. “WHO GOES THERE!?”

The shout came from a woman on one of the lookout towers. A mop of sandy-blonde hair peeped over the barrel of a sniper rifle that looked as likely to shoot sideways as forward. Nora tried to put her hands somewhere nonthreatening so she would not be shot on the doorstep. That always proved difficult, carrying as many weapons as she did. Was she supposed to walk in with her hands up or at her sides? Were her fingers too close to her sidearm, then? Usually, the Wasteland required her to look as mean as possible, so carrying the biggest stick around was a good thing. And she was not about to put her hands up. What if this was a trap? Or a Deathclaw was hiding somewhere nearby?

Piper shot Nora a look. Right. Low profile. That meant she would be doing the talking.

“Hello there!”

Piper actually groaned. “Oh, hullo friends,” she whispered mockingly.

Nora gave her a glare. “We’re travelers from Diamond City! We were caught out in a storm and need somewhere to rest for the night! My – uh – friend and were ambushed on the road. She’s pretty shaken so she isn’t saying much. Are you?”

She could hear Piper’s teeth grinding. “Just wait until we’re out of this…”

The woman on the gate tried to get a better look from her tower. “Alright, well, I guess you don’t really look like bandits. Come up to the gate. And keep your hands off your weapons. We’ve got snipers trained on you.”

They did not, but Nora was not willing to call her out on it. From what she could tell, the greatest threat to her physical safety came from the very angry woman standing next to her.

“Hear that?” Nora asked as the woman disappeared from view. “We’re being watched. No funny business.”

“Think they can hit me before I strangle you?”

“Can’t do that, you’d blow your cover. Then whatever you did to these nice people –“

The gate creaked as it opened, its groaning successfully masking the sound of Piper’s fist striking Nora’s side. She did her best not to crumple to the ground as the woman they had been speaking with came out to greet them, flanked by a taller man with what appeared to be a board with several nails in it. What corner of no-and-where had they stumbled into? And why was Piper famous so far from Diamond City?

The man spoke first, his voice old and gravelly. “All right, let’s have a look at you.”

Piper shrank down, somehow managing to swallow her fury and hide in the shadow of her cap. Nora tried to draw attention from her and pretended to be in charge. “As I said, we’re just travelers.”

“Awfully well-armed for travelers.”

Well, standing next to these two, that was true. “We’re on the road a lot. Either you find good loot or you find an early grave.”

The man seemed to accept this with a small nod. “You said you were ambushed on the road. Any trouble we should know about? There’s a group of bandits that pass through here every few months. We had a feeling they were back. I don’t suppose you got rid of them for us?”

Not unless their cause of death was wagon-related trauma. “No, it was pretty far off. Drove us into a storm before we fought them off, though. Nasty bit of business. Though, if you’ve got trouble, we’d be happy to take a look at it. Wouldn’t we, partner?”

Piper ground her heels into the dirt and managed a quiet, meek nod. “Yeah.”

Nora turned back, smiling broadly. “See? How’s that sound to you? You let us in, give us a place to sleep, we go solve a little problem for you? Everybody leaves happy.”

The woman looked up at her friend, unable to hide her wide-eyes. “You think they could do it?” she asked in a stage whisper. “They look tough, Tom. I think they could do it. Can you imagine –“

“Penny,” the man growled. Penny bit her tongue and shifted uncomfortably. No wonder she was eager. If these two were the best-equipped guards this settlement could muster, a pack of dogs could take it over in two hours without heavy losses.

Tom looked less convinced but Nora smelled a soft bed with her name on it. “No caps necessary. We’ve even got our own food. Just give us something soft to sleep on and we’ll make all your troubles go away.”

He chuckled at that. “I trusted you more before you started talking like that. But I like your style. And that is a very nice piece of work.”

Nora looked down at her rifle and smiled. “Spent a lot of time on her. She’s a bit quiet, but as long as I take good care of her, she’s never steered me wrong.”

“Well, I hope your luck holds out. My name’s Thomas and this here is Penny. Welcome to our little corner of paradise. There should be space for you to rent out at the hotel. We’ve got the first few floors open. Bar’s open, too. You and your friend…”

That was not a good pause. Piper tried to shrink further under her cap but she had to know the game was up. Nora looked from Penny to Thomas and wondered if she could get out of this without hurting them. They seemed nice enough. And she would hate to waste the bullets on a man with a goddamn board as his only defense.

Tom squinted. “I know you, don’t I?”

Piper sighed and adjusted her hat. “If it’s all the same, I was hoping you had forgotten.”

“Couldn’t forget what you did here, Miss Wright. You’ve been gone a long time but folks around here still remember what happened.”

Nora let her hand fall to her pistol discretely. “Jesus, Piper, what did you do?”

Piper clenched her fist and looked ready to take another swing at Nora. “I told you –“

“She saved us, is what she did.”

Penny and Nora, the outsiders in this conversation, exchanged shocked looks. “What?”

“Please don’t,” Piper said quietly.

Tom looked baffled. “But Miss Wright, you –“

“I’m just looking for a bed, Tom. Please. We’re just passing through and – and after everything that happened, I… I was hoping to just leave it alone this time.”

The poor old man actually looked hurt. “Of course. Of course, I should have known. Well, you’ll find no closed doors here, Miss. It’s wonderful to see you again, of course. I hope – Natalie isn’t with you, is she –“

“She’s fine, Tom. She’s at home.” Piper finally looked up. “Listen, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it or anything, but you were always good to us. If you wanted to talk at the hotel sometime, just drop by.”

“Of course,” Tom nodded eagerly, smiling and gesturing for them to pass through the gate. “Come on. Get some of that dust off you. I’ll come by once I’m off shift. I’ve been hearing some crazy things coming out of the Commonwealth. I suppose it was too much to hope you’ve been keeping out of trouble.”

Nora choked on something and did her best to die quietly. Piper clenched her fists tighter but kept her voice level. “No, it’s been an adventurous few months. A lot has happened. Got married, actually, but things are a little rocky right now.”

“Oh, I’m, um –“

“Yeah, it turns out the Wasteland is a dangerous place and my dearly beloved might be unexpected taken from me. In the night. While she is sleeping.”

Nora took the point and composed herself. “Sorry. Wouldn’t want that.”

Poor Tom looked baffled but managed to recover nicely. “Well, I suppose I’ll be hearing about it all tonight. I’ll be around. Save me a seat.”

They nodded politely and began walking into the quiet town. Nora gave the thoroughly-confused Penny a polite nod and spared her rifle the sorry look it deserved. The thing was not even cut out to fend off roaches.

“Oh,” Tom called as they passed. “And welcome back, Miss. It’s good to see you home again.”

Nora’s eyes bulged. “Home?”

Piper sighed, all the air in her body flowing outward and deflating her like a balloon. “Yes, Blue. Home sweet home. Welcome to the middle of nowhere.”


	11. Investigative Journalism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper and Nora spend the night in Piper's old hometown

“I can’t believe you lived here.”

Piper’s head sank until it was nearly touching the table. “It was a long time ago.”

“But they still remember you! You’re famous!” Nora looked around what was left of the hotel bar and beamed. “You’re famous in Diamond City, too, but that’s more of an infamous thing than –“

“Would you please stop?” Piper grumbled into the table. She looked completely miserable like that. Her hat was still pulled as low as possible and she was trying very hard to pull her head completely into her chest.

“You know what? I’m going to test that.”

“Test what?”

Nora waved at the bartender. The old man had no one else to attend to but still took his sweet time polishing a glass before looking over. “Hey, can I have a drink? Give me the Piper Wright.”

The man stared at her blankly. Nora did not blink. Piper looked between the two, unwilling to lift her head from the table. After a very long silence, the man turned his back to them and plucked a bottle off one of the shelves.

Nora cackled. “I told you, you’re famous! They have a drink named after you!”

“Probably bottom-shelf whiskey in a broken glass,” Piper muttered.

“Well not bottom shelf and that didn’t look like whiskey, but the glass did look a bit…”

Piper refused to answer. She clammed up, her gaze turning almost sickly as her gaze wandered the cracks and scuffs that blanketed the tiled floor. It was not an easy thing to see. Piper was supposed to be the energetic one. Even when they were in a firefight, she always had something clever to shout about. That was to say nothing of how she was in better times. She could be exhausting, yes, but she was always there, bouncy and alive and two steps ahead of everyone else. This was usually because everyone else was chasing her, trying to set fire to the latest issue of the Publick, but that was hardly the point.

Nora leaned over on her stool and gave her a nudge. “Cheer up. This is amazing. You actually saved all these people. This is how it all started, where the Publick started.”

“Yes, and it’s also where I lost my dad and nearly starved to death with my sister.”

Oh. Shit. Nora shrank back into her stool, willing the floor to open up and bury her alive. “Right. I’m sorry, I didn’t –“

Piper cut her off with a loud sigh. “No, don’t apologize. I know you’re trying to help. I’m just… not really excited to be back here, okay?”

Now it was Nora’s turn to slouch. She should have known better than to try and make light of something like this. It was like Piper rooting through Vault 111 looking for a story. Of course, Piper would never do something like that. If she ever did, she would be nice and wonderful and say exactly the right thing that Nora needed to hear and suddenly the world would not seem so bleak and terrible. That was what Piper did. Nora made jokes about drinks.

“Listen, we don’t need to stay the night,” Nora said quietly. “The storm should blow through overnight and we can head out as soon as it does. There should be enough light for us to find the road, at least.”

Piper smiled sweetly. “I said I wasn’t excited, Blue. That doesn’t mean I would rather jump into a Deathclaw’s stomach than spend the night here. But it is sweet of you to offer.”

“That’s me, always prepared with another terrible idea,” Nora said cheerfully. “Just let me know if I can help, okay? I remember – well, that’s probably not a helpful story, actually.”

As she trailed off, she saw Piper’s eyes start to light up. The woman did love a story, good or bad. “What story?”

“Well, I was going to tell you about what it felt like, going back and –“ Nora cleared her throat and tried to make the words come out. “Getting Nate from where he was… um… anyway. I was going to tell you that I know what it’s like but I realized that it sucks and nothing I’ve ever done was harder than that and there is nothing anyone can say to make it better, so yeah, there you go.”

Piper burst out laughing, so Nora took that as a sign she had done something right. “I should give you a column in the Publick,” she said, shaking her head and grinning. “People come to you with problems and you tell them to either take a moonlit walk in the Wasteland or that life sucks and nothing can help them.”

“Motivational speaker was never my calling. Daddy always said self help was for communists.”

Whether the Wasteland had communists or not was not something Nora actually knew but Piper found it funny either way. “Mine was probably the same way. Well, he was more of a ‘if it’s broke, why haven’t you fixed it yet?’ kind of guy.”

“Oh, so you’re blaming it all on him? You were just raised this way?”

“I was raised just fine.” Piper folded her arms in feigned indignation. “I’m very successful at what I do, I take great care of Nat –“

“Who is where, right now?”

“At home.”

“Without her family.”

Piper smiled and leaned over the table. “I love it when you say that.”

“She probably loves it when I’m actually around to say it.”

“Well, that’s because someone is terrible at their job.”

Nora opened her mouth to compliment Piper on her self-awareness but stopped when she noticed the look in her eye. “Me? Why me? I don’t even have a job.”

“Right. You have nothing else to do so your job is to keep me out of trouble and you’re terrible at it.”

She could hardly argue so she decided to complain instead. “I don’t remember signing up for that. Keeping you out of trouble sounds like an impossible job. I prefer to think of myself as an enabler; you get us into trouble, I pull you out, thereby convincing you that we can survive whatever scheme you cook up next.”

“Hey, I survived plenty of crackpot schemes before you came along. I can do just fine on my own.”

The bartender chose this moment to make the arduous journey from behind the bar over to the small table and plunk a single glass on the table. Nora had spent a day or two mixing drinks during her youth but could not make up her mind about what had gone into this particular concoction. It looked – well, it looked like a whole lot of alcohol and almost nothing else. She leaned closer cautiously, trying to smell out what was hidden from plain sight.

“You know that if you drink that, you won’t be walking out of here.”

Nora picked up the glass and peered over the rim. If she drank all of this, not only would she not be walking out of here, she would most likely die on the spot. “Yeah, I figured. He could have just given me the bottle if he didn’t want it.”

Piper was watching the man plod slowly back toward the counter. “He isn’t looking. Dump it out in a plant or something. It’ll probably – don’t drink it.”

As Piper hissed her warning, Nora took a very modest swig from the large glass. She half-expected it to burn her tongue. It didn’t. Well, it did a little, but much less than she had expected.

As she was testing the waters, Piper waited impatiently. “Well? How was it?”

Nora swallowed and shook her head. “Very fitting. This is definitely your drink.”

“Because it knocks you on your ass when you don’t take it seriously?”

“That, too,” Nora admitted, eyeing Piper mischievously. “It’s a little rough at first. There’s a little burning and you’re not sure if what you just drank was wine or rat poison. It looks dangerous, giving off the air of something that could kill a Deathclaw with a look.”

“Better hope they have a second room if you keep this up or you’re sleeping outside.”

“But then you get passed that wave of pain and unwelcoming hostility –“

“Wrap it up, Blue.”

“And it hits you. A little rough, but very rich. Full of flavor. Deep and soulful, where it wants to be, rewarding of someone who puts in the time to get to know it.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “You’re terrible.”

“You seem to put up with me.”

“Only barely,” Piper said, finally scooting over and giving Nora a short but fond kiss. It was good to be married again. “Should I order something? Maybe see if you’re just as famous as me out here?”

“I wouldn’t,” Nora said sharply. “If I am, I’d rather not eat roast Bloatfly for dinner. I’ve got food in my pack so unless this Tom guy shows up with directions to a five-star restaurant, I don’t think I’ll be asking for the dinner menu.”

“Your meal wouldn’t be Bloatfly.”

“No?”

“Deathclaw steak, I think. Heavily seasoned and served with a cold Nuka.” Piper leaned back, looking rather pleased with herself. She hadn’t delivered the punch line yet.

Nora answered carefully. “I’m flattered.”

“The steak itself is overcooked.”

“And here we go.”

“Sort of burnt, like there was plenty of flavor at one time but whatever it was is a mystery of lost potential. There’s a sauce that comes with it that looks a little funny but at least it smells okay. Whoever was preparing it was trying too hard, but at least their heart was in the right place. Surprisingly, when you actually taste it, it isn’t half bad.”

Nora arched an eyebrow. “When you taste –“

“There are notes of distinction, sort of an aged-to-perfection appeal. But I suppose it’s an acquired taste. Certainly not for everyone.”

Nora raised an eyebrow. “Just you?”

“Just me.”

At least it was not all bad. She could have told Nora she looked, smelled, and strongly resembled in all possible ways an uncooked slab of Brahmin meat. In this, at least, there was the dignity of having tried hard. And being several hundred years old, it seemed. She felt good for her age and, if that was the sort of thing Piper enjoyed, who was she to argue?

Piper tilted her head and gave Nora a happy look. “Well, maybe this trip won’t be so bad after all.”

“Enjoying the exemplary service at our fine establishment, madam?” Nora gestured grandly around the dilapidated bar.

“I’m being serious, Blue. Maybe it’s meant to be. Don’t laugh, I know you don’t believe in that and you know I don’t either, but I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while.” She fidgeted in her chair and leaned a little closer. It was not an uncomfortable fidgeting, but a familiar one. She wanted to get something off her chest and this was the only place for her to do it.

Nora was smart enough to notice and act serious. “What is it?”

“Well, before we got married, I thought a long time about what I was going to say. I was worried about making you choose between me and Nate. I didn’t want to put you through that.”

“You didn’t.”

“I hope not. Before I asked, I went to his grave, back in Sanctuary. I… well, if we’re being honest, I made kind of an ass out of myself and I was sure he was going to rise up and knock some sense into me. He didn’t, which I guess is a good thing, but anyway, I got to talking about you and what I wanted life to be like with you. I told him about why I love you and…”

Piper trailed off. Nora scooted closer and gave her a little nudge. “He wasn’t too hard on you, was he?”

“No, he was great. Very understanding.”

“Good. I was worried I’d need to have a talk with him.”

How long had it been that she could make jokes about her dead husband? She felt a part of herself break down and sob every time she thought about him, but Piper was doing a very good job at consoling that part of her. She was almost human again.

Piper smiled and shook her head. “What I’m trying to say is that I want to do the same thing with my dad. He never got to meet you and he made me who I am today. I wouldn’t be here without him. I wouldn’t know how to take care of Nat without him. So I want him to meet you.”

Nora sat up a little straighter. “Yeah. Of course.”

“You’re sure?”

“Well, it’s been ages since I’ve had to meet someone’s parents, so we’ll see if I still remember how to act, but –“

“You’ll be on your best damn behavior or I’ll give you something else to worry about.”

Nora put on her most innocent smile. “I promise.”

Piper did not look convinced. It really had been a long time since she had tried to make a good impression on someone’s parents. She had always been confident, so she had never been afraid of being good enough of their eyes, but it was probably a good thing she would not be under the most intense of scrutiny. Piper tended to bring out a side of her that had not been seen in a good twenty years.

That had as much to do with the world as it did with the woman. Her relationship with Nate had been normal. Slow build, dinner at nice restaurants, late movies, fights over where he left his shoes, all with the certainty that they would both die in some nursing home in seventy years. The Wasteland was different. Anyone could die at any time and that was if they were being careful. Piper was not careful. Nora loved her to death but she knew how fleeting their life together could be. Hell, after all the abuse it had seen, the ceiling above them could give out and crush them at any time.

Nora tried not to look up as the thought occurred to her. “Since you were good enough to talk to Nate, I would actually really love it if I could do the same. I never did get your family’s blessing before we eloped.”

Piper grinned. “I don’t think family disapproval would have stopped you.”

“Probably not.”

“Good, because it wouldn’t have stopped me, either.”

“You should bring that up as you lay flowers on the grave. Oh, by the way, whether you like it or not –“

Piper was laughing but she still managed an annoyed shake of her head. “Do you want me to put a good word in for you or not?”

“Yes, please.”

“All right. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go… pay our respects. That sounds so strange to say. Good, but strange. I think it’s been too long.”

Nora smiled and hefted her drink. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

 

Tom eventually did stop by, Penny in tow. They spent the evening catching up. Nora tried her best to get stories of Piper’s youth but Tom did his best to play forgetful. Penny, on the other hand, had heard of Nora and spent much of her evening asking if this adventure or that had really happened. Had she really killed a Deathclaw in one shot? Had she really shot down the Brotherhood airship? Rumors said she was in two places at once, that the Institute had tried to control her and turn her into a Synth – no, that she was a Synth – no that, the Institute had tried to replace her but failed after Piper –

It sounded ridiculous when someone said it out loud, but Nora grudgingly admitted that it was all true. She then spent the next three hours trying to fend off the more invasive questions and, on four separate occasions, convincing the poor girl that she could not train her to be a crack shot in one night. For one thing, alcohol in guns mixed poorly, and for another, Penny’s weapon of choice would be lucky to fire the right direction no matter who was holding it.

The night ended with Nora turning in alone, Piper staying up with Tom a bit longer and coming to bed as Nora was drifting off. When she woke, she found that Piper was already up and dressed. She had not slept much, if at all, and Nora doubted it was because the door didn’t lock right. It had been a long time since Piper had been home. How the locals remembered her was not the only reason she had chosen to stay away.

She did not say much, just packed her things, ate her breakfast, and kept a close eye on the door. Nora let her be. She had never been very good at comforting people and right now there was nothing she could say. Piper would work through it. She always did. Nora was just there to help, maybe give Piper a push when the time came.

That time did come when they were standing outside the town’s little cemetery. It was just outside the walls. Wooden crosses and a few tombstones dotted a small hillside surrounded by a rickety fence. It was tall enough in some places to obscure the outside world, so Nora felt safe enough letting Piper pay her respects in private. Hopefully nothing was skulking in the shadows waiting for a meal.

They reached the gate and Piper stopped to play with the ring on her finger. It was a charming gesture, really. Nora waited a few moments before offering her a few words and giving her a gentle nudge through the gate.

“Go on. I’ll be right behind you.”

Piper shuffled nervously. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Right behind me. While I’m up there. Talking to my dad. Jeez, I really never thought I’d be back. Introducing my wife! This is… weird. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“It’s not weird. And that’s coming from a two-hundred-year-old popsicle.”

“You always know just what to say.” She laughed and did that thing with her hair that meant everything was alright. It always made Nora happy to see that. She only did it when she was safe at home. Sure, she was nervous, but at least part of her knew Nora would make sure she was safe.

“You’re going to do fine. He’ll want to hear about the Publick. He’d be proud that you’ve been working so hard to keep everyone safe.”

Piper sighed. “He’d probably tell me I need to stop pissing so many people off.”

“Sounds like we would have gotten along famously.”

“You probably would have. That’s the last thing I need, more people telling me to play it safe.” Piper straightened her jacket and fussed with one of the pens she had strapped to her wrist. “All right. I think I’m ready.”

“Do you want me to walk you up?”

“No,” Piper said, adjusting her famous hat and squaring up to face the hill. “But thank you. I’ll come back down in a minute, okay? I’ve got some things I want to say alone.”

Nora nodded and backed off a bit. “Whatever you need. I’ll be right here.”

“I know.”

Piper gave Nora a fond smile before starting up the hill to see her father. Nora watched her go and forced herself to relax. God, it really had been a long time since she had met someone’s parents and she really wanted Piper’s father to like her. It was odd. Losing Nate had left her more spiritual than before. She had not expected that. She had known a lot of people who had lost family or friends or someone they cared about and they always seemed to come out numb.

Well, Nora was old enough to know that everyone handled grief differently. If she couldn’t believe that Nate was still around, watching over her, she might very well curl up into a ball and cry. What would Piper think of that? This was her way of keeping that from happening. She supposed she should be thankful Piper felt the same way. It was wonderful that she had gone to talk to Nate like that. Nora still needed to think of a way to repay her for that.

Saying something compelling in front of her father’s grave might be a good start. She should probably start working out what that would be. It was not as though she could discuss the finer points of why she loved Piper and what their favorite activities were. The ones she could mention were not exactly parent-approved. What do you mean you’re dragging my daughter all over the Commonwealth? Brotherhood of Steel? The Institute? The Railroad? I should have locked her in a convent!

Piper in a convent. That would be the day. Did they even still have convents? Post-apocalyptic nuns had been given a pass in popular media but that did not mean they weren’t around.

She should at least promise to keep Piper safe. That was something she was good at. Half the world had tried to kill that woman and Nora had managed, through bumbling and blind luck, to fight them off, so that had to count for something. The fact that her own son had been responsible for their most harrowing encounters did not need to be mentioned. They already had a kid, anyway. And Piper had raised Nat for most of her life, so how bad could she possibly turn out?

“Blue.”

The word was innocuous enough but Nora was not listening to the word. She heard enough in the tone. Trouble.

She tore up the hill, rifle at the ready, watching the corners as she bounded between wooden crosses. What was it? Deathclaw? Raider gang? Ghouls?

Nora came over the rise to find Piper shaking with rage. There were no enemies in sight, but Nora did not lower her weapon. She had never seen Piper so angry. Her face was flushed and her fists clenched white. This was bad.

It took her a moment to see what was wrong. Nora had walked up beside her before she finally noticed. The grave was disturbed. Someone had done anything and everything they could to disrespect this place. The marker was broken and white paint slathered the pieces. Nora could make out the word ‘traitor’ if she looked closely. And the smell. Nora put a hand to her nose but she had been in enough of Diamond City’s alleys to know the potent combination of human waste and alcohol that now perfumed the air.

Piper’s voice hissed through gritted teeth. “Who? Who did this?”

“I don’t –“

“My –my dad. They did this to him. He’s dead and he can’t – I’m going to kill them. We’re going to find them, and we’re going to kill them.”


	12. Raider Troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper returns home, furious and looking for answers

“WHO GOES THERE?”

Nora winced. “She sure is loud, isn’t she?”

Piper said nothing. She hadn’t said much since finding her father’s grave and truthfully Nora could not blame her. Nora liked to consider herself the more level-headed of the two, but in this case, if it had been her own father’s grave that had been smashed and painted over, she had to admit she would be seeing red.

A tired man’s voice came from the walls just ahead. “It’s just Piper, Penny. Settle down.”

“Well you never know!” Penny’s voice had dropped from a shriek but it still carried all the way to Diamond City. Nora shook her head. The raiders probably avoided this place after their first assault had been foiled by punctured eardrums.

“Welcome back, Miss Wright,” Thomas called from his perch. “Hope you didn’t run into trouble out there. I - oh, dear.”

It was about time he had noticed. Piper’s scowl was threatening to tear a hole in the wall even at this distance. Nora decided to answer for her. “No trouble, but we wouldn’t mind asking you a few questions.”

Penny poked her head over the battlements. Her eyes went wide and she scuttled off. “Hold on! I’ll get the gate for you! Just a moment!”

That woman did love to shout. Nora was beginning to understand why they put her on the day shift rather than post her out here at night. A mistake, she wagered, the townsfolk had only made once.

“I’m going to find whoever did that,” Piper vowed, the words old but no more tired than the first time she had spoken them. “I’m going to find them and they are going to answer for this. Why? Why did they do this?”

Nora wished she knew. She was also beginning to wonder why it was they could never have a quiet day off. Something always seemed to go wrong. She was beginning to suspect some deity was watching over her, putting her into terrible messes and pulling her out just for its entertainment. If she ever met it, she would lay down in no uncertain detail the entertainment of letting her get a good night’s sleep. There were plenty of adventures to be had inside Home Plate, all of them involving a mattress, Piper, or both.

The gate creaked open just ahead of them and Piper stomped through. “Thomas. I need to have a word.”

Poor Thomas had barely gotten his feet on the ground when Piper was right in front of him. “What - okay, settle down. What’s going on?”

“Someone vandalized his grave! My father saved this backwater, piss-reeking anthill and someone smashed his grave! Who was it? I need to speak to someone. Someone knows what’s happening. The mayor or -”

Nora twitched. “Please don’t drag the mayor into this.”

Piper rounded on her, spitting fire. “Why? I followed you into the Institute when your son…”

She trailed off, putting one hand to her forehead. Nora sighed, trying her best to forget about that particular chapter in her life.

“Sorry, Blue. I didn’t mean that.”

“I know. It’s alright. Come on, I can’t solve this on my own. Unless you want me to start shooting people at random. That’s about all I can do.”

Piper smirked. “I’m not much better right now. You’re probably right. Let’s not bring the mayor into this.”

Thomas cleared his throat. “If I may? What is going on?”

Nora gestured in the direction of the cemetery. “Someone went and knocked over her dad’s grave marker. Painted some nasty words on it, too. Why would anyone do that? Piper told me what happened. The people here owe him everything. Well, him and Piper, but don’t tell her that.”

“Standing right here, Blue.”

“Yeah but you never believe me when I say it, so that changes nothing.”

Piper chuckled and rolled her eyes. “What I can’t figure out is why anyone would do it. It had to be someone who knew him. None of the other markers were touched.”

Penny was still fidgeting in the background. “What about those raiders, Tom? Aren’t they the same ones as back then?”

That got Piper’s attention. “Is that true?”

Thomas groaned. “Yeah, that’s the story. Don’t know who walked away from that fight, but word has it at least a few got away. Could be they’ve still got a grudge against your old man.”

“Had to be someone who was there,” Nora said, thinking aloud. “Someone new to the group wouldn’t care about old wounds. And raider gangs have pretty quick turnover in employees.”

Piper grimaced. “They do when you’re involved.”

“I’m not going to apologize for a job well done.”

Penny was getting excited now. “So you’re going to get them? Can you? That would be amazing.”

Nora blinked. “You get a lot of raider trouble out here?”

“No,” Thomas sighed, giving Penny a none-too-gentle tap on her head. “This one just listens to too many stories.”

“The way you handled the Brotherhood - and the Institute, too - and is it true you’re an actual Railroad Agent?”

Nora remembered this conversation from the previous night. She tried counting to ten but never could get passed two.

Piper wasn’t exactly helping, either. “I thought Agents were supposed to be secret with their identities. If she was an Agent, she’d be a pretty terrible one.”

“I… yeah, okay.”

The street was pretty empty, as far as Nora could tell. Thinking back to their night in the hotel, the whole town was practically deserted. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to be chasing after yet another raider gang but it did seem like they were running short on suspects. Somewhere up the street, a brahmin lowed, the wares on its back growing stale with no one to buy them.

“Who is the mayor, these days?” Piper asked casually. “Would they have even known him?”

“Probably not,” Thomas admitted. “He’s a younger man, moved in about the time you left. Actually he’s the one who helped put the place back together. People were going nuts, thinking the whole world was against them. You know how it is; corrupt mayor, raider gangs, people getting snatched. That goes on for too long and people start to get strange looks about them.”

Nora found herself nodding along. “Yeah. All too well.”

“So he’s out. Unless he showed up looking for a power vacuum.”

“This place would probably be doing either a lot better or a lot worse if he had,” Nora said, looking once again at the barren street.

Piper snorted. “Fair point. Well, good. Saves us the trouble of exposing him.”

“Thank God for small favors.”

“Where is your sense of adventure?”

“At home,” Nora answered sternly. “With Natalie.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Married life made you soft.”

“What’s wrong with being soft?”

“So, this raider gang,” Piper said, giving Nora a happy smirk. “Where are they hiding out?”

“Nobody’s really sure,” Penny said, still far too excited for Nora’s taste. “They’re supposed to be out in the wastes, guarded by Deathclaws they tamed and surrounded by a moat of radioactive waste.”

Nora nodded. “Good, so nothing we haven’t seen before.”

Penny’s eyes got big, Thomas raised an eyebrow, and Piper glared. Nora chortled. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Piper did not stop glaring. “You’re not, but it’s days like this I wish you were.”

“So you’re really going to do it? Find the raiders and take them all out?”

Nora looked to Piper. “I don’t see any other leads.”

Thomas groaned but started walking toward the open gate. “Alright. Let me show you about where they are, or at least the last place we spotted them.”

Nora followed him to the gate, fiddling with her Pip-Boy as he pointed out into the sandscape. Piper nodded and probed for more information, as she always did, eventually teasing out some helpful details about numbers, disposition, and the fact that they hadn’t actually bothered any traders on the main road for a few weeks now. That was odd, but not enough to get Nora’s hopes up. Somehow these things always turned into a firefight.

“Is that true?” Thomas asked, his voice too low for Penny standing back at the gate to hear.

“What?”

“That thing about Deathclaws and radioactive waste.”

Piper smiled. “It’s always an adventure with Blue.”

Nora looked Tom in the eye, suddenly feeling like she was meeting Piper’s overprotective uncle. “I wasn’t - okay, so I tried to go around them.”

“Why were you there in the first place?”

“Oh, uh, so there was, um…” She looked plaintively at Piper. “You remember. We had a thing. That we had to do. Around, uh, there. Right?”

“Nope. Don’t recall any such thing we had to do around there, Blue.”

Thomas’s frown deepend. Nora swallowed hard. “Hey, so, Pipes, why don’t you stay here and I go take care of those raiders for you. Wouldn’t want to put you in harm’s way. That’s not what a good wife would do. That’s - really, this doesn’t happen that often! It’s not my fault!”

“Uh huh.”

“I mean it! People just - they don’t seem to like me much.”

Piper barked a very unladylike laugh. “I like you just fine, Blue. She’s not so bad once you get to know her, Tom. And she takes good care of me. Wouldn’t be here without her.”

Nora blushed and tried to find something interesting about the dirt at her feet. “Uh, yeah. That.”

Thomas looked unconvinced but finally took Piper’s word for it. “Alright. You be careful out there. Come home safe.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her,” Piper said easily. Nora rolled her eyes until she noticed Tom looking at her.

Oh well. She had never been very good at the whole ‘meet the parents’ thing anyway.

Never one to pass up a good escape from awkward conversation, Nora practically dragged Piper up the road and out into the safety of the Wasteland. She could feel Tom’s eyes burning into the back of her head. He didn’t need to stare so damned hard. Nora knew perfectly well she wasn’t good enough for Piper and she was perfectly capable of reminding herself. She didn’t need any handouts.

Piper’s good mood lasted until those burning eyes finally faded. Her lips turned downward into a worried frown, her eyes growing tired beyond her years. She always looked tired - Nora assumed that came with the job - but this was something new. Maybe they should have stopped to rest first. Of course that would have involved Piper actually lying down and closing her eyes for five minutes and even on the best of days that was a rare thing.

She spent a long while staring in the direction of the bandit camp before speaking again. “How do you want to do this?”

Nora shrugged and waggled her rifle. “Probably the same way we always do. They’re never in much of a mood to talk.”

“So we shoot our way in.”

From the way she said it, Nora could tell she wasn’t happy. “You have another idea?”

“I want answers, Blue. People don’t go around vandalizing random graves. They do it for a good reason. It wasn’t like they went in and just knocked down every marker they found. They went right to him and… you don’t do that unless you’re angry. Really angry. I want to know why.”

Piper began fidgeting with the brim of her cap while Nora paid attention to her Pip Boy. They were going the right way. Just a few hours of walking through bleak, sand-blasted nothing and they would be on the raiders’ doorstep. She was used to that sort of thing by now. Diamond City always needed something and whatever they needed was always behind a thick wall of angry raiders. Nora had gotten used to skulking around in abandoned buildings, scavenging everything from office fans to dinner plates just to keep the lights on.

What she was not used to doing was asking the raiders for answers. They didn’t have reasons for what they were doing. They were raiders. Their brains were cooked, their motives evil, their reason for existing simply to keep Nora on her toes.

She liked it that way. It kept things simple. “So, what, you want to ring the doorbell and say hello?”

Piper winced. “I know, it’s not exactly the best plan. And I know what could happen.”

There was a long, unhappy silence as Piper’s hand drifted to her sidearm. They both remembered what had happened the last time raiders had gotten their hands on them.

Nora popped the clip from her rifle, examined the bullets in the sunlight, and slapped it home with a satisfying clack. “Don’t worry. No Mirelurk Queens out here. They won’t catch me napping like last time.”

Piper tried to smile. “Thanks, Blue.”

“Besides, raiders aren’t exactly known for being friendly. I doubt we’ll get within half a mile before someone tries to take a shot at us.”

Now she did smile. “You always know just what to say.”


	13. Maternity Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper and Nora confront the raider gang

“You have to say it eventually. Sooner or later, you’ll admit it.”

Nora pressed her fingers to her forehead and groaned. If she waited long enough, she wouldn’t have to admit to anything. She just had to keep her head down and wait for this to be over.

“Come on, Blue. Any day now.”

She looked plaintively up at the closest raider. “Hey buddy. I’ll give you fifty caps if you turn this into a fight. Just start shooting. I’ll get you in the knee or something and leave it on the way out. That sound good?”

One of the other raiders laughed. “What are you talkin’ about, girl? You got, what, that little bitty gun? Against all of us?”

“Or don’t,” Nora said, ignoring the other one. “To be honest, it’s been a long couple days, and I’d really rather not kill anybody else if I don’t have to.”

Piper, hands on her hips, tried glaring the guns out of the raiders’ hands. There were nearly a dozen of them, all spread out around Nora and her well-intentioned but infuriating wife. She really didn’t want to fight this out. They would win - they always did, somehow - and they would get their answers, but she was feeling exhausted. Killing these raiders seemed almost pointless. And she preferred minimizing her chances of being shot in the gut whenever she could. Even if none of these clowns could shoot worth a damn, there was always a chance one would get lucky.

It wasn’t like they had to aim, looming over the two women as they were. A few of them chortled and stroked their rifles in a menacing yet strangely emasculating manner. She felt like telling them not to try so hard.

Nora kept staring down her chosen victim. “Come on. If you’re going to try something, do it. We’re all roasting in the heat out here. Your friend in the gas mask can’t be doing well. Probably can’t see too good with those lenses all scratched up. Then there’s the Incredible Hulk over there with a minigun and a bad back. He won’t do you much good from this range even if he wasn’t just begging for a shot to the foot.”

Cut-rate Bruce Banner took offence and hefted his weapon, lifting with his back and snarling to hide his pained wince. That man needed a week off and a good dose of Ativan. “Who do you think you’re talking to? You want to die, lady?”

Piper glowered. “I’m not going to ask again. Did one of you vandalize my father’s grave? If you did, you will apologize and tell me exactly why you did it. Then I’ll decide whether or not Nora here gets to turn you inside out with her bare hands.”

“Ew.”

“Speak up! Who did it?”

The raider Nora was staring down started to talk. “Who - who are you? What grave?”

The Hulk, now sore both figuratively and literally, barked over him. “What are you talkin’ about? We ain’t done nothin! Now hand over your caps and -”

Nora groaned. “Well at least this will distract you from the pain in your back.”

Piper, ever the performer, stabbed toward Mister Furious with her left hand. No one noticed her right slipping inside her coat to free her sidearm. “You can’t hide the truth from me! I’ll go through everyone here if I have to but I will know what happened! My father didn’t deserve what you did to him!”

“You’re right. He deserved worse.”

Nora froze, as did Piper, stunned by the sudden insult. The raiders backed off in confusion, heads turning toward the new arrival. A woman in a sharp coat with fine boots and impossibly clean pants strode into the raiders’ midst like one of the twelve apostles. She was old enough to be Nora’s mother but had the unmistakable air of a hardened fighter. These were her people, and she was accustomed to them obeying her commands.

Just as they were accustomed to being led. They parted for her, showing her as much deference as they could while still wanting to tear Piper’s head off. Nora looked from the woman to Piper and waited for her to shoot.

She didn’t. “What did you say?”

“I said,” the woman, not missing a beat, came to a stop in front of Piper, watching with an odd smile as her hand fell to her side. “He deserved worse.”

Piper could do little more than blink. Her mouth twitched as words formed and were discarded as they failed to meet Piper’s needs. “You. He - what was it? Did he turn on you? Were you the one who wanted to raid my home?”

The woman actually chuckled. “In a manner of speaking. He did turn on me. And, if I could have, I would have kicked down your door myself.”

Every raider started shouting. Nora pulled her own pistol, aiming it at the raider she thought most likely to hit Piper. Piper stood still, her sidearm inches from the strange woman’s face. The weapon was shaking. Piper was shivering, tears forming in her eyes.

But the woman didn’t move, except to hold up one hand. The raiders looked from it to Piper in abject confusion. Nora pointed from one raider to another and managed only a single, pleading “Piper?”

“You,” Piper hissed through gritted teeth. “You were the one. Why? When he was - when he saved the town. Were you there? Did you kill him?”

“No.” The woman stared right into Piper’s eyes as she answered. “But I wish I had.”

Nora waited for the shot. If Piper wasn’t furious before, this woman had just pushed her over the edge. That was it. They were going to have to fight their way out of here, same as they always did. But at least they would do it knowing they had done her father justice and made the ancestral home a little safer.

Piper’s voice was choked, her eyes full of tears, but she didn’t shoot. “Why?”

The woman smiled and, if they were anywhere else, Nora would have thought she looked kind. Actually she did. She looked safe. Familiar. Nora squinted. She had seen her before. “Wait -”

“You’ve grown so much,” the woman said quietly. “And here I thought I’d never get to see it.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t know me. I should just - I should…”

“Piper Wright, if in those short years I was able to teach you anything, it should have been that the truth, no matter how ugly or how painful, should always come first. Before your safety, before yourself, and even before your family.”

“What would you know about that? Who are you?”

The woman let her hand fall to her side and, as she tilted her head just a little to the side, Nora finally saw it. “Piper…”

“I’m your mother, Piper.” The old woman smiled. “And you’ve no idea how much I’ve missed you.”


	14. Sins of the Father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper confronts the woman claiming to be her mother

“You can’t… You’re not…”

Nora lounged against a filing cabinet as Piper, still reeling, sat at a battered table. She still hadn’t dropped her weapon since being invited inside the raider compound but at least she hadn’t shot anyone yet. Meanwhile, the woman claiming to be her mother stood across from her, a patient and loving smile on her face as Piper denied ever knowing her.

That alone made Nora suspicious. Piper, wonderful and amazing woman that she was, was certainly not patient and absolutely would not stand for her daughter disowning her after so many years. Either the apple had fallen far from the tree or this woman was trying to dupe Piper into… well, Nora had not worked that out just yet, but that would not stop her from suspecting the worst.

“I understand it’s a lot to take in.”

“It’s a lot to - yeah, it is! You don’t seriously expect me to believe you!”

The woman sighed and gave Nora a pleading look. “Raised by her father, through and through. And who might you be?”

While Piper fumbled with her words, Nora bought her time by picking hers more carefully. “Someone who cares a lot about Piper. So, let’s say I believe the family resemblance. You really are her mother. Where were you? Why didn’t you come back?”

“You have no idea how hard it was!” Piper had used the time well, finding her voice and jumping in on top of Nora. “Taking care of Nat alone? It was a miracle we made it to Diamond City. We nearly starved. Natalie was sick and - if you really are my mother, unless you’ve got a damned good reason for leaving us to rot, you should never have come back.”

The insults hit their mark and Piper’s mother did not hide her pain. It looked as though she might fall down and die on the spot. That would be fitting. Nora had often thought about Piper’s parents, wishing she could somehow bring them back to make Piper and her sister happy, but this was not what she had in mind. Finding out they had been here all along, unhelpful if not uncaring, did little to stir her sympathy.

“I understand,” the woman said, finally sounding both old and matronly. “Please believe me when I say that I tried to come back. Your father… was not the man you thought he was.”

“Of course you’d say that,” Piper snapped. “He was there for me. He raised me, kept Nat fed, and gave his life for the city. He was a hero. You - you just ran away.”

“I never ran from you, Piper.”

“Well it sure as hell felt like it. Nat deserved to have a mother in her life. Where were you when she didn’t have anything to eat or when she went to sleep in my arms because she would have frozen to death on her own? I couldn’t take care of her - I still can’t. She deserves better than me and even if I’m sure she deserved better than you, that shouldn’t have stopped you from being there. She needed a mother.”

Piper scowled at the woman and fell into bitter silence. Her mother, as Nora was now fairly sure that’s exactly who she was, fell deeper into her chair. She looked miserable. Guilty. Exactly how Nora would have felt in her shoes. As much as she wanted to jump in and give Piper the satisfaction of tearing her apart, she deserved a chance.

“You said you wanted to kick down her door.”

Piper didn’t look up, shifting in her chair and keeping her eyes angrily on the wall. Her mother gave Nora a tired look. “What was that?”

“When we were outside. You said you wanted to kick down her door yourself. Why didn’t you?”

“You heard her, Blue,” Piper growled. “She hated my dad. Probably wanted out of raising us from day one. We’re wasting our time here.”

“I never wanted to leave you, Piper. Either of you.” Piper’s mother said quickly, reaching across the table to keep Piper from standing. “Please believe me. Your father… when I found out what he was doing, he tried to kill me. He took me away from you and it was years before I found my way back. You were gone by then, off in Diamond City, fighting the Institute. When I saw your first paper, I -”

“If you’ve got a story, spit it out. Tell me why you let my sister grow up without a family. Then we can get out of here. I told you coming back here was a bad idea, Nora.”

Nora put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her from rising even though she had yet to move in her chair. “This is your family, Piper. Don’t you want to hear her out?”

“It’s better to know an ugly truth than a sweet lie,” Piper said, mocking her own favorite aphorism and rolling her eyes. “But sometimes, it’s better not to even ask. Not even print the story. No one needs to hear about this. No one cares. My dad died doing the right thing. That’s what matters. Nothing she says can change that.”

“He did,” her mother said softly. “I heard about what happened. But if you’d just listen, you’d understand how much it took for him to get there. How far he’d fallen before those raiders came along.”

Piper glowered at the table and, for a moment, up at the very-uncomfortable Nora. She wanted to walk out of here just as badly as Piper did but this was her family. Nora would have done anything to have more of Piper’s family in her life, and if there was the slightest chance Piper had the wrong of what had happened all those years ago, she deserved to hear it. Her mother deserved a chance to tell her side of the story.

“Fine.” Piper turned in her chair, staring her mother in the face and putting on her best interview scowl. “So. Mother. You stand accused of abandoning your daughters to starve and smearing the reputation of the one man who bothered to keep them fed. You also have admitted to vandalizing his grave after he died a hero, saving hundreds of people from a raider attack. So give us your story. Tell us what really happened because I can promise you won’t get another chance. Once you’re done, Nora and I will be leaving and you will never see us or Natalie again.”

Her mother actually smiled. “That’s not so different from how I’ve been feeling all these years. I never knew if you were alive or dead, and whenever I heard about you, trouble was never far behind. If you decide to walk away from this, I will let you. It’s enough for me to know you’re still alive. And that Natalie is still alive.”

“Talk.”

Looking at Piper pleadingly, her mother found nothing to comfort her. Nora did nothing to help. She wanted to hear the story but her patience was wearing thin. She was beginning to regret asking for her story. It would have been much easier just to bundle Piper off home.

But she knew Piper. It wouldn’t belong before she cooled off and dragged them both right back out here to sit her mother down and have a nice, long chat about what had happened with her father. Better to have it out now than later. Especially since this might be the only chance they got.

“Okay. It started before you were born…”

 

When you think about your father, what do you remember? Well, if you imagine all of that, all his heroism and courage and standing up for what’s good and just, then you will know how it was when I met him for the first time. He was everything to me. I remember him fending off a horde of Radscorpions almost single-handedly. Everyone called him a hero for that. That night the whole town went wild and, somewhere along the line, I got him alone and we hit it off.

We were inseparable after that. He did his job, rising in the ranks and enjoying the accolades of the town, and I did mine, scraping by doing trade deals with passing caravans. I came out ahead but it wouldn’t have been enough to keep a roof over my head. Not without your father. And after I had you, well, things would have been much harder without him around. I’m truly grateful to him for those days.

My point is that he was good, once upon a time, and he found that again when he died. But that isn’t the part that mattered. Not to me.

After I had you, he started to get stressed. I thought fatherhood suited him, and he was always very fond of you, Piper, but he wasn’t the same man I remembered. Every few months he would come home, his pockets bursting with caps, so to speak. I won’t bore you with exactly how I found out he was earning money on the side but I did. I was also a new mother and I wasn’t about to ask questions. When you got sick, we could afford to take you to the doctor. That was enough for me.

Then Nat came along and things started to even out. But the money kept rolling in. I started to get suspicious but your father always brushed me off. He would tell me they were bonuses from the mayor for doing such a good job. I wanted to believe him. I almost did. I still remembered the younger man, the one who had risked his life for us. I thought he would never change.

But I knew something was wrong and I knew you and Natalie would be caught in the middle without me. So I started asking around. While I was trading and trying to make deals for a few scraps of steel or a bit of clean water, I would start digging. A few questions here and there, nothing that anyone would mind answering. Of course there were raiders around but they hadn’t seen any lately. It was pretty remarkable, really. The roads were so much safer than they had been. At least, they were if you were visiting one particular town.

That’s what I always told you, Piper. If something is too good to be true, it always is, and that goes double for men. It was obvious someone was paying them off. I thought maybe the mayor was bribing them away from the town at first. That was fine with me - after all, it kept you safe - but of course that wasn’t all of it. Where would he be getting the caps? And your father was getting his money somewhere.

I’ve read your paper. I know you can fill in the details. There was a lot of snooping around at night, a lot of lying to your father about where I was going or why I was out. He was lying to me, too, so I don’t feel terribly guilty over that, but it made for a stressful life at home. He got distant. I started worrying about leaving the two of you with him.

I’ll skip to the ending. I was on my way home after talking to the mayor’s secretary - I had almost put him and the raiders together at this point - when I saw your father slinking out of town. I knew what he was doing right then. I knew it was him. He had to be the one with the raiders. I should have just run. I should have gone home, grabbed you and your sister, and gotten out.

But I didn’t. I followed him. I left you and your sister alone because I wanted to see it with my own eyes. I wanted to know the truth. Finding out cost me everything.

He met with them a few miles outside the city. They talked about the loot the raiders had taken in, giving some of it to your father in a small bag. He was selling the traders out to them. The ones who stayed overnight would talk about what they were carrying or where they were going. Your father knew everything. He told them everything. And those people never suspected him. They all remembered the hero. Just like I did.

I listened longer than I should have. I was frozen. I felt like I’d known it forever but at the same time, it never really sunk in. Not until that moment. Seeing him take that money. All of it just hit me at once. And I couldn’t move. I stayed where I was, pressed my face into the hillside, and tried to make myself stand up. I knew I had to get home. I had to find you and Natalie before it was too late.

But it was already too late. They found me just as I got up the strength to leave. The raiders dragged me in. They were going to kill me then and there. I yelled at your father “don’t have the guts to do it yourself? Going to just watch your own wife get put down?”

They went berserk after that. Oh, that was satisfying. I thought they were going to kill him, too. That would have put a smile on my face. If I couldn’t go back to you, I was going to make sure he couldn’t get to you, either.

But of course they didn’t kill him. One of them knocked him around a bit but that’s all. Then they picked him up, shoved a gun in his hands, and told him to kill me. I watched him stare at it for a good minute or so. It felt like hours. I didn’t care, I was going to die either way, so I just wanted him to get it over with. I wanted him to prove me right.

He took his time. I think he really was broken up about it. Served him right. I hope it hurt when he pulled that trigger because it sure as hell hurt me.

Do you know what I said before he shot? “What are you going to tell Piper?”

He didn’t say anything so I tried again. “Nat won’t remember me. She’ll think I was never there. But Piper remembers. She won’t forget me.”

But you did, didn’t you? Your father was nothing if not charismatic. People always listened whenever he talked. But it was all I had. I hoped it was true. I hoped you would find the truth one day. Even as I wished I had done more for you. I wish I had done more to protect you, hidden you away so he could never find you. It all happened so fast that I never got a chance. And I’ve always regretted that.

The last thing I remember is him shooting me in the chest. I blacked out, woke up who-knows-when, saved by some passing doctor who saw me lying in a ditch when he went to relieve himself in the bushes. I’d call it a miracle if the next years weren’t so terrible. By the time I came around, we were far away from home. I did what I could, making my way home, hitching rides with passing caravans. You wouldn’t believe the things I saw, the things I did, just trying to get home to you.

But then you were gone. I heard what he did, just like everyone else. And I heard about what you did, too, Piper. The way you brought down the mayor and everyone else all around him. I was so proud of you I cried then and there, just broke down in the middle of the street. I was so proud. My little girl had grown up to be such a brave woman.

 

Piper did her best to hide her tears, but Nora could see them plain as day, clinging to the corners of her eyes. She started shaking her head. “I can’t… I can’t just believe you. You can’t just walk in and tell me that story and expect me to - to just take you back. I don’t even know if it’s true. I don’t remember any of that. Just a mother who walked out on me.”

“I know you can’t, Piper. You always were a stubborn girl. Smart, too.” Her mother was smiling, still so proud of her little girl. It made Nora want to tear up, too. An old holotape scratched against the tabletop as she pushed it carefully toward Piper. “I wouldn’t expect you to run a story without proof. Here. Why don’t you give this a listen. Your father left it for me after he tried to kill me.”

With her tears threatening to blind her, Piper carefully lifted the battered old tape off the table. “Why? Why would he leave you anything after he tried to kill you?”

“I wondered that myself. Maybe it was the guilt. Please, Piper. Listen to the tape.”

Piper looked up. “Blue. Can I -?”

Her Pip Boy was already half-off, the second latch coming off with a satisfying click. “Yeah. All yours. I’ll just… be over there. Gotta be a bathroom around here somewhere. Or something.”

“You don’t -”

“This isn’t for me, Pipes. If you want to play it for me once you’ve heard it, I’ll listen, but I think this is for you. Just you. This is your dad.”

Piper smiled so gratefully then. Anyone watching would have thought Nora had just brought her dad back to life, not given her a moment of privacy while she heard his last words. Her mother, still sitting on the other side of the table, began to look almost hopeful. Nora gave her a long stare but kept her mouth shut. If this was just a ruse to get Piper alone, Nora would not be far, and her raider friends would regret the day their mothers brought them into this world.

The door to the break room squeaked as Nora opened it and stepped out. “I’ll be right here, Pipes. Take as long as you need, okay?”

Piper nodded and Nora pulled the door closed. The hallway was empty. All the raiders must have been waiting out on the old factory floor, killing time until their boss returned. That was something the woman had yet to answer and Nora was certainly not about to let it go. Whoever the woman was, she was still running a raider gang way out here. That made her eye twitch.

The sound of her Pip Boy clicking beyond the door told her it was time to go. She heard the grumble of static through the battered steel door before it gave way to a gravelly voice.

“Ellen, my love. If you’re hearing this, I want you to know I’m sorry.”


	15. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper copes with learning her mother is still alive

Watching Piper smoke was always confusing for Nora. She had seen what it had done to her father in the old world, how it had slowly taken all the air from his lungs and left him in a hospital bed, gulping for air until he finally gave passed away. That was the old Nora that wanted to slap it from Piper’s hands and give her something else to spend her nervous energy on. There were more fun ways to unwind.

At least, at home there were, not standing on the roof with Piper’s mother no more than a few hundred feet away. She was below, waiting in the shade of the factory. Waiting for Piper to decide whether or not she wanted her around at all.

Nora watched Piper take another long drag. She had mostly stopped after Nora had showed up, though whether that was because of her shining influence or because they had been too busy getting shot at was anyone’s guess. The important part was Nora had stopped worrying about her pulmonary health and started worrying about gunshot wounds. Of course, this far in the future, maybe all the radiation had actually made smoking good for your health. It probably counteracted the effects of eating irradiated turnips for dinner or something.

Flicking the butt off the side of the roof, Piper pulled a pack from her jacket, pulled the last cigarette out, and lit it, crumpling the empty packet in her fist before tossing that too over the edge. Nora always wondered how she always seemed to have an extra pack on hand. It had been two hundred years. Surely the world had chain smoked itself out of cigarettes by now. But Piper always had just one more squirreled away, and there was always one more carton hiding in an abandoned office building, waiting to be pilfered.

And, as much as Nora hated it, the woman looked damn good while she did it.

Piper examined the fresh cigarette now sitting between her fingers. “Hey Blue.”

“Yeah?”

“The next time I say we skip town, what will you say?”

Nora paused before cautiously finishing. “Yes, ma’am?”

“That’s right.” She took another long drag and sighed a thick cloud of smoke. “You will say yes ma’am and we will keep going because I am not ever doing this again.”

“I would hope not,” Nora quipped. “Unless you’ve got another sister you -”

Piper’s glare kept her from going any farther and Nora was reduced to a muttered apology while staring at her boots.

After a moment of reflection, Nora pushed herself up from the vent she had been lounging on and wandered over to the edge with Piper. The view wasn’t much, but it was better than inside the factory. At least from here they could see the sky. Somewhere out there was Piper’s home, her father’s grave still forgotten and slathered in white pain. Nora had been wondering about that, too. It was not as though they could just turn around and pretend none of this had happened.

“What are you going to do?” Nora asked softly.

Piper fidgeted with the cigarette and leaned in a little closer. “I don’t know. I really, really don’t know.”

Nora peered over her shoulder, making sure they were still alone. “Do you think she’s telling the truth?”

“Yeah, I do, and that’s the worst part. My mom is alive. My dad was a sellout. And then there’s the raiders! Why is my mother walking around with a gang of raiders?”

“You didn’t ask her?”

“I was preoccupied,” Piper growled. “Hearing my father’s dying words so no, I didn’t ask.”

That was fair. “What was on the tape?”

“A confession. Or at least that’s what it was for me. He really did it, Blue. He tried to kill my mom because she caught him taking money from raiders. After she died, he tried to live with the guilt, but eventually it got to him. He had to tell someone about the raiders. He was going to put a stop to the whole thing.” Piper adjusted her cap and ran her hand down the back of her neck. “And that’s where I came in. That’s all I knew about him. I let him get away with killing my own mother. How’s that for finding the truth, huh?”

“You were just a kid, Piper.”

“Yeah, a kid who was too busy worshipping her father to see what he really was. There must have been clues. He must have acted like a man with something to hide. If I wasn’t so busy whining about my mom, maybe I would have seen it.”

Nora put her hand around Piper’s side and pulled her a little closer. “Piper there was no way you could have known. You did the best you could with what you had and I think you did a pretty damn good job. You stopped the raiders, didn’t you? That was something neither of your parents could do.”

Piper snorted. “Yeah. My parents, the best liars and most useless sacks of the Commonwealth.”

With a very long groan, Piper slumped down over the railing and began staring at the ground far below. The Wasteland’s tireless source of good had been beaten down by her own family. Then again, Nora understood that feeling all too well. Her own family had caused no end of trouble out here.

The woman deserved a rest. Not that Nora hadn’t tried every time they went back home. It was never her bolting off the couch and starting the next adventure. But that was hardly Piper’s fault. It was just who she was. Her parents had raised her, or perhaps forced her, into being the persons he was, and Nora would not have traded her for anything.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I almost died?”

Piper huffed. “You’ll need to be more specific.”

“I jumped off a bridge.”

She paused when she heard that, her eyes finding Nora. “Wait, before the war? You tried to kill yourself?”

“No, no. This was a few months after I’d, uh, thawed. I decided I couldn’t mope around Sanctuary for the rest of my life, so I went exploring. I was on one of the old interstates, creeping along, terrified out of my wits. It’s weird, thinking about it now. I was so scared of raiders or roaches that I completely missed the behemoth.”

“The what?” Piper yelped.

“Yeah. I was so preoccupied making sure I didn’t fall through the road or step on an irradiated wasp nest or something that I missed the twenty-foot-tall monster napping in the shade. I don’t think I’ve ever been so afraid in my whole life.”

Piper recovered her wits long enough to ask “What about the Deathclaw?”

Nora paused. It was actually a close call. “Even then, except this story doesn’t have nearly the same ending. Maybe that’s why I never told you about it. Anyway, I’m standing in the middle of the highway, nothing around me but open air and wrecked cars. It wasn’t like I could hide. By the time it finished scratching its ass and yawning, I wouldn’t have made it. Well, maybe I could have, I don’t know. Honestly I wasn’t thinking too clearly.”

“What happened?” Piper snapped.

“Right. Sorry. So obviously it didn’t eat me -”

“Obviously!”

“But not for lack of trying. I finally managed to get my legs working just in time for him to start roaring at me. Its breath was so bad I nearly fell over. I knew I couldn’t fight and I was sure I couldn’t run.” Nora rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “And that’s when I thought it was over. I thought maybe it was time to just lie down and give up. Be with Nate again.”

“Blue…”

“I don’t know why I didn’t. I really had just given up. But I saw something over the edge of the highway. It was an old nursing home. Looked close enough to reach out and touch. I looked down and thought yeah, I can make that. So, when I saw it reaching down to squish me, I jumped. Right off the side of the highway and down onto the roof.”

Piper shook her head. “Of all the - you could have died!”

“Yes, that occurred to me just before my ass hit the skylight. And, of course, I didn’t. I just hurt. A lot. The glass was already shattered and the wood was mostly rotted through, but it still hurt like hell falling that far. I had the good fortune to land on one of the old beds but it was in such bad shape that II broke that, too. It could have been a lot worse. I was so stunned, I laid there for probably half an hour before I could get up. If there had been Ghouls or raiders in there, that would have been the end. Of course the behemoth didn’t give up, either. Actually lobbed a car off the bridge trying to hit me. It landed in the room next door. I got lucky. Really, really lucky.”

Seeing Piper’s face as she told the story reminded Nora why she had kept it quiet for so long. She didn’t like admitting that she had come to the end of her rope, not after Piper had worked so hard to keep her on her feet. She recovered her composure enough to shake her head and sigh. “I see why you didn’t share this earlier.”

“It wasn’t exactly my finest moment,” Nora admitted. “But I survived - better than survived, actually. When I walked out the front door, I saw a bunch of settlers hiding out across the street. They were smart enough to avoid the behemoth, unlike some people, and were trying to sneak passed a bunch of raiders when some moron came falling out of the sky.” She smiled, proud of herself and fond of the memory. “They were the first group I ever helped.”

Piper huffed and made disapproving noises but Nora could see the smile on her face. The hero bug had bitten her harder than it had Nora. “So you helped them find Diamond City?”

“Well, I got them on their way. I probably should have just followed them. Think of all the time we lost.”

“Time I would have spent whacking you with a newspaper,” Piper said quickly. “Don’t you remember how we met?”

Nora chuckled. More fond memories surfaced, these ones of driving Piper absolutely insane by demeaning her precious newspaper. Of course they were much more harrowing back then. If she had known back then where their story would take them, she would have told Piper whatever she wanted to hear back at the gates of Diamond City. She also would have spent much more time lazing around Publick Occurrences. There was just not enough time in this world, Vault-Tec experiments be damned.

“I remember, and so should you. We spent a lot of time trying to kill each other -”

“I wouldn’t say kill.”

“- and I think we’d both rather have been doing other things. We lost a lot of time we should have enjoyed. And I’m not just talking about us. Nat deserved to have a family and if I had come along sooner, she wouldn’t have spent so much time without one.”

Piper actually flushed. “I - I know. And you’re great with her and I know how much she means after the Vault and… everything. I know. You’re right. And you don’t have to spell it out.”

“So you’ll talk to your mother?”

“Yes.” Piper sighed explosively and lifted her cap to run her fingers through her hair. “Yes, I’ll talk to her. She deserves another chance. I guess. But I get to ask her a few questions.”

“Of course you do.”

Piper took a languid step back and gave Nora an admiring looks. “Thanks. I needed that.”

Nora winked. “Always happy to share.”

“Got any more stories of you falling on your butt?” Piper asked with a very childish snicker.

“So many I could write a book.”

“Tell you what,” Piper said, turning toward the stairs that would take them back into the warehouse. “You do that, I’ll hang up my hat for good. Then you can have all the family time you want.”

 

“You mean that?”

Piper had her arms folded tightly over her chest in such a loveless stance that Nora could hardly blame her mother for being confused. “Yes. If you tell me what you’re doing here with these raiders, if you can convince me you’ll be any different from how I remember you, then yes. I’ll let you see Nat.”

Oh, that would be a reunion for the ages. Nora did her best to act like Piper’s stern backup but she had little doubt what Natalie’s reaction would be. This poor woman had no idea what she was getting into.

But her eyes brightened all the same. “Of course. Anything I can tell you, I will.”

“So let’s start with the raiders.”

Nora, sensing her cue, chimed in a second later. “We’ve already heard from the city guards. We know your people are causing trouble out here.”

“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Piper’s mother rolled her eyes and Nora could not help but notice the family resemblance. “Those idiots. The ones you see here? Most of them have enough brains to listen to me. They stay quiet, look tough, and no one suspects how mind-bendingly stupid they are. And they get paid for it.”

Piper’s lip twitched but she fought hard to keep from smiling. “So the raiders staging the attacks…”

“Aren’t mine,” her mother finished. “They ran off when they didn’t like what I was doing with the gang. Thought I was making them soft. Most of them are dead now but I guess a few are still out there, alive enough to make us look bad.”  
“You expect us to believe that your raiders are different?” Nora asked, remembering their own encounter with them a few days before. “They didn’t shoot on sight but they were quick enough to try and take our caps.”

“Have you ever tried to pacify a raider gang?”

Nora chuckled. “Pacify? Yeah, one or two.”

“Then I expect you’re better with that rifle of yours than I am. My options were less… exciting than yours. You see, when I finally came back home after my dear husband left me for dead, I found an empty home waiting for me. It’s probably still there. My daughters were gone. The first thing I did was go chasing after the raiders. I thought for sure he had taken you and Natalie back to their lair.” She shook her head, chuckling sadly. “Stupid plan, that was. What was I going to do, fight them all with my bare hands? I managed to talk my way through the door but that was as far as I got. That’s when I learned he was dead and you were in Diamond City.”

Piper tilted her head. “But you stayed anyway.”

“What was I going to do, thank them for their time and leave? I don’t know what kind of raiders you’re used to dealing with but these ones aren’t so polite. I had no choice. I joined up. Didn’t take much to outwit the lot of them, brain dead as they were. Once I had established myself, I started to, shall we say, push things along. I convinced a few of the smarter ones they were better off talking a good game than actually getting shot at. They started to like the idea of getting caps for nothing. Enter the protection racket.”

“Protection - that isn’t much better than robbery,” Piper said angrily.

“No, no it isn’t, but it was a step in the right direction.” Her mother fidgeted in her seat and looked sheepishly at her daughter. “It was the best I could do. And we have done better. After the protection racket was established, it was easy enough to move the rest of these blockheads into actual work. They get paid to guard caravans, keep the other raiders from messing with them, and in return they get caps. And nobody gets shot. The other raiders know not to mess with us, or at least I thought they did. Strange that I hadn’t heard about it before now. I wonder if -”

“So they tried to empty our pockets out of protection?”

“One of them tried to empty your pockets,” her mother said wearily. “Because you walked right up to the door and picked a fight with him. Of course I’m glad you did, but what did you expect?”

Nora resisted the urge to laugh. She had expected a shootout and she really hadn’t done anything to prevent it. The woman had a point.

Not that Piper cared. “That’s asking us to take a lot on faith.”

Ever a charismatic woman, Piper had always been able to talk circles around Nora. She watched her mother fidgeting in the chair, wilting under her daughter’s angry gaze. Time to see if the gift of gab ran in the family. “I know. I’m asking for more than that. You already heard the tape. You know what happened to me, what your father did. I’m not asking you to forgive me or to understand why I left you alone with him. I should have been there for you and nothing in the world will change that. But please, give me a second chance. Let me see my children again. Natalie - she was just a baby when I left. Knowing she’s alive, I can’t just stay away. And you. Look how much you’ve grown. And you still look just the same as when you were a girl. Just as fearless and…”

She trailed off, watching Piper bite her lip as she tried to stand her ground. Nora started to wonder if she should step outside, give them a moment to themselves.

“Your father didn’t give me a choice, Piper. He took both of you away from me. But there is nothing I wouldn’t do to change that.” Tears began to glisten in the corners of her eyes as a smile tugged at her lips. “I made a lot of mistakes. I should have just gone to Diamond City. But I did my best. And I hope you believe me when I say I don’t care if you burn this place to the ground when I leave.”

Piper scoffed to try and hide a sniffle. Her voice was cracking. “Well, we’re awfully good at that, aren’t we?”

Her mother smiled, the tears in her eyes now growing larger. She didn’t say anything, just smiled mutely as she tried to find her voice.

Piper didn’t give her a chance. “Alright. Alright. You can see her. I’ll - we’ll take you home and you can - Nat can see you again.”

The dam broke, and Piper’s mother began to sob. “Thank you. Thank you!”

“I’m not making any promises,” Piper continued, trying to sound stern behind her quavering voice. “Nat isn’t as nice as I am. She’ll be harder to convince than me. And if you do anything to her -”

But she was already on her feet, crossing the room and wrapping her arms around Piper before she could finish. Piper mumbled something, her hands trembling as they hovered in midair, unable either to push her mother away or finally embrace her after so long. It took a long time for those hands to finally move, but move they did, slowly coming to rest around her mother’s shoulders.

Nora watched and did her best not to cry, too. She was always such a sap for things like this. They both looked so small. Piper lost a good twenty years, shrinking until she was standing on her tiptoes, stretching to reach even the hem of her mother’s dress. All those lost years fell heaviest on her, on the mother who had spent so long wondering if she would ever see her daughter again. She looked so frail, like Piper’s arms were the only thing keeping her from falling apart right there.

Nora turned to give them the room. There were enough crying women in this room. It didn’t need a third adding to the mess. Maybe that hulking raider was still around here somewhere. She could use a good fight about now.

As she turned the handle to leave, she heard Piper murmuring into her mother’s shoulder. “It’s alright, mom. I’m here. We can go home.”


End file.
